


Doctor Dash

by kimurasato



Category: Danny Phantom
Genre: F/M, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-04-24
Updated: 2014-04-29
Packaged: 2018-01-20 16:39:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 51
Words: 152,387
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1517690
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kimurasato/pseuds/kimurasato
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When young Lex enters his office for a general physical, Dash didn't expect the boy's father to be someone he knew from Casper High.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

"I'll be right out here if you need me."

Dash glanced toward the door when he heard the man's voice. The young boy standing in the doorway nodded up at his father, who remained mostly out of sight. All Dash could see of the man was a pale lanky arm as the man stood beside the doorway. Turning toward the room, hesitation flashed only briefly in the brilliant blue of the young boy's eyes. Then he put on a brave face as he entered and climbed onto the padded examining table without anyone's help. He frowned at Dash as his lower lip jutted out in an almost pout, and his eyes narrowed, giving Dash the impression that the boy was very unhappy about being here. His short arms folded over the white T-shirt that he wore, paired with baggy shorts.

"Hey there, little guy." Dash put on his most charming smile, trying to make the boy feel comfortable around him as he rolled his chair over to his patient. He knew coming in for an examination could be scary for young children. Plenty of times the children would start crying before he even began the examination, often needing their parents to calm them enough to allow Dash to finish.

"It's Lex," the boy said firmly, his blue eyes narrowing in a hard glare at the man before him.

Dash blinked in surprise, not expecting that reaction from the boy. When he heard a tired sigh, he glanced over toward the door to see that the father slid down the wall into a crouch, his bony leg poking into sight beyond the doorframe. With a shake of his head, Dash turned back to his patient. Lex was a little bigger than most of the seven year olds that he dealt with, already showing the beginnings of light muscles. His blond hair was unruly, and some of the bangs hung down into his eyes. His small mouth pursed as he continued to glare at Dash.

"My apologies, Lex," Dash said, trying to regain his composure after being thrown off by the boy's angry expression. "Now, first I'd like to take look inside your mouth. Open up please." He reached out to better position the boy's head so that he could look inside to examine the back of Lex's mouth. When he felt teeth snap down hard on his fingers, Dash yelped, jerking his hand back. In all his years as a pediatrician, he couldn't remember the last time one of his patients bit him, probably way back when he was still in med school or when he first started working. This wasn't his first time being bitten, but the children he saw nowadays were usually more well behaved than this boy was acting.

"Lex!" The father barged into the room with a stern shout after hearing the commotion taking place within the examination room.

While Dash nursed his wounded fingers, the father stood before his son. From the boy's reaction, head bowing and shoulders hunching, Dash guessed the look upon Lex's father's face was furious. The dark haired man was of average height, standing a few inches shorter than Dash. His frame was thin with long, wiry limbs, but Dash could see some muscle upon the man despite the loose casual clothing that he wore. The man's raven hair was about as unruly as his son's blond hair, making Dash wonder if either of them owned a brush, or heard of one, when they both looked like they simply rolled out of bed before coming to the doctor's office. Dash frowned at the man's tense back, thinking there was something familiar about Lex's father, though he couldn't place it.

"I told you after Doctor Thurston that you can't go around biting people." Lex's father placed his hands on his hips as he stared down at his son.

"He was going to stick a needle in me," Lex complained, pouting as he pointed an accusing finger at Dash.

The man sighed and scratched a hand through his raven locks. "I told you before that this was just a check up," he said tiredly. "He's not giving you a shot, and he's not taking any blood. All he's going to do is the usual physical. Just behave, and we'll be able to go home in no time."

Lex folded his arms, grumbling too softly to be heard as he looked away.

"I'm really sorry about him," the father said, turning to face Dash. "Usually he's better behaved than - Dash!" Wide bright as the sky blue eyes blinked in shock, and Dash was fairly certain his own shock mirrored the other man.

"Fenton?" Dash nearly shouted, his brow pinching in confusion. He couldn't wrap his mind around the fact that Fenton, of all people, was standing before him, in his office, with a child. Raking a hand through his slicked back blond hair, Dash needed to sit. Fenton had a son? His gaze darted between the pair, and his mind boggled even more. Fenton's son hardly looked like him beyond the same shade of brilliant blue of their eyes and the paleness of their skin. Dash read the name on the file before the boy even entered the examining room: Lex Jackson Fenton. He never imagined that the boy's father would be the same Fenton that he went to high school with. And how did such a little brat end up coming from Fenton anyway? "What are you doing here?"

Fenton scratched at the back of his head. "I'm supposed to get updated medical records for the school," he explained, looking like the awkward teenager that Dash remembered. He laughed a little as he folded his arms, hugging them around his narrow frame. "When I saw that his doctor was named Baxter, I never would have guessed it was you." He stared at Dash with a look of shock and awe, like he was struggling with the fact that Dash grew up to be a doctor.

"I can't believe you have a son," Dash mumbled, wanting to laugh at the whole situation.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Fenton demanded, his expression twisting quickly to offended.

Dash raised his hands in defense before him. "No, I just meant that it's weird seeing you as a father. I keep thinking of you as that kid from high school." He chuckled and shook his head. They certainly changed a lot over the years since then. He looked Fenton over, his eyes glancing occasionally to the boy still sitting impatiently on the examining table. It was almost surreal seeing Fenton with a son.

"Well, it has been, what, twelve years since then?" Fenton shrugged and turned his head away as he frowned. His eyes held a weary look, revealing his exhaustion clearly.

Dash knew that feeling, that desire to collapse onto a bed and sleep for months, if only he could ignore his work, his life, the world for that long. Medical school wasn't easy, and he spent most nights staying up late studying to make sure he was on top of all his classes. Other people from their high school might have thought that he was a slacker who didn't care about getting good grades, but it was all part of the whole jock stereotype that he played into because it was expected of him. Most of the rest of the popular crowd wanted him to go out partying with them every weekend, getting drunk despite being underage and doing drugs.

Thankfully Kwan, a few other football players, and Paulina cared about the real Dash Baxter. They all had aspirations beyond going to college to party and waste their parents' money by not getting a decent education. Even if the number was small, Dash was glad to have real friends who encouraged him to follow his dream of becoming a doctor.

After medical school, he had all the shifts working in the hospital, sometimes the late night shift that went to the early morning, leaving him feeling drained. He finally had a stable work schedule now, but some nights he collapsed into bed, not wanting to wake up in the morning because he was simply too exhausted.

"Dad," Lex groaned with only the slightest hint of a whine. "When can we leave?"

"When you stop biting the nice man and let him finish with the physical." Fenton gave his son a stern look that made Dash feel, yet again, like this was some weird dream. Fenton acted like a total dad, and that simply didn't feel real to Dash.

"Nice man?" Dash questioned with a smirk to Fenton as he moved in to continue with the examination. This time when Dash tried to check inside the boy's mouth, Lex didn't bite him.

Fenton rolled his eyes. "Yeah, well," he said, shrugging.

Dash glanced at him, but Fenton wouldn't meet his gaze. Perhaps Fenton preferred not to tell his son about the fact that this doctor used to bully him in high school. Dash decided to let the man keep his image in front of his son and didn't start rehashing the "old days." When he finished, he allowed the boy shut his mouth then checked his eyes. A finger moved before Lex's face, and he followed after it until Dash determined his vision was fine.

"What brings you here anyway?" Dash asked, turning Lex's head to check inside his ear. "I thought you stuck around Amity Park." He turned Lex's head the other way to check his other ear.

"We needed a change of scenery," Fenton said, offering no more of an explanation.

Dash paused to stare curiously at Fenton, but the other man clammed up tightly after that. With a mental sigh, Dash returned to the examination, checking the boy's breathing and reflexes. When he was all finished with the usual physical examination, he rolled back a bit on the chair and glanced up at Fenton. "Well, your boy's perfectly healthy."

"I don't see why we had to do this," Lex grumbled, scowling at Dash. "I don't like him."

"Lex, he's your doctor," Fenton said, tight lipped. "So you better learn to like him."

"If you really want, I could refer-"

"No," Fenton snapped, pointing a finger at Dash. "We've already gone through six other doctors that kicked us out because Lex bit them or did something else to drive them crazy. I'm sick of searching for a doctor." His gaze whipped around to his son. "Lex, please stop acting out like this. He's a perfectly good doctor, so please just don't make me have to look for someone else." The drained look was back on Fenton's face as he pleaded with his son.

"I still don't like him." Lex grumpily folded his arms, only slightly pouting.

Fenton rubbed at his face before he turned to Dash. "I'm really sorry about him biting you before."

Dash shook his head as he finished making notes in the file. "It's fine. Kids bite sometimes." With an amused smile, he stood up, holding the boy's file in his hands.

Fenton picked the boy up, lifting his son into his arms and balancing him on his hip. "It was, um, nice seeing you again." His words came out awkwardly, and Dash almost laughed at the sudden shyness overcoming the other man as his son hugged his arms around his neck.

"You too." Dash nodded then turned to Lex. "And maybe next time, we can get through the check up without anyone biting anyone else." He got drawn into a glaring match with Lex before Fenton finally broke it up.

"And that's enough of that." Fenton turned toward the door. "I might have to take away that videogame you wanted if you're going to keep acting up like this."

"No, Dad!" Lex whined, gasping like the very thought of having his precious videogame taken away physically hurt him.

Dash shook his head as he watched the pair leave the examination room. He never imagined that he would meet up with Fenton again after all these years. Opening the file in his hands, he glanced over Lex's medical records curiously. It was the usual medical jargon, detailing his health since birth and all the shots he had and when. Nothing out of the ordinary was written in the file, but it wasn't the boy's health that Dash was interested in at that moment. His eyes were drawn to the parental information listed there, and he wasn't surprised to see Daniel Fenton in the line about the paternal parent. He stared at the name for the maternal parent.

"So he ended up with Manson after all," Dash mumbled, not sure why that fact killed his mood.


	2. Chapter 2

"Lex, you need to get dressed," Danny shouted from the bottom of the stairs. When he checked the time on his watch, his impatience grew. "Now!"

"Do I have to go?" Lex stood at the top of the stairs in his pajama pants and a shirt that was several sizes too big. His blond hair looked even more wild than usual from complete lack of brushing. He pouted miserably, his blue eyes begging to let him stay home another day.

"I already told them that you would be there today," Danny told his son firmly as he fold his arms, trying to look the part of a stern father. "You can't simply stay home every day. You need to go to school. Now hurry up or you'll have to skip breakfast. It's the most important meal of the day. If you don't eat, you'll just fall asleep in class."

"And that's a bad thing?" Lex muttered grumpily as he turned down the hallway to walk back to his room to get dressed for his first day at school.

Shaking his head, Danny sighed as he hoped this wouldn't be repeated every single day. He made his way into the kitchen, grabbing eggs out of the refrigerator and a bowl from the cabinet. Cooking wasn't always his specialty. In his early years at college, his skills at cooking were quite laughable. As he cracked an egg open on the side of the bowl, Danny frowned as his mind turned back to the beginning of his freshmen year at college.

Sam taught him how to cook, laughing and joking when his failed attempts either came out completely inedible to taste or burnt to a blackened crisp. But he got better over the years under her guidance until he could make fairly decent meals. Or at the very least, he didn't make her spit out the food with a grimace that said it tasted like salty tar.

When he had three eggs in the bowl, Danny sprinkled some garlic powder into it then grabbed a fork to mix it up into a gooey yellow mess. As Danny poured the mixture into a hot pan on the stove, Lex wandered into the kitchen and slumped into a chair at the table. From the miserable pout on his face, it was clear that he was not happy with being forced to go to school. Running a brush through his hair only helped somewhat to tame the wild locks. He didn't put much care in getting dress, throwing on a pair of loose pants and a gray shirt with a ketchup stain on the right side. He slipped on his Velcro strapped sandals instead of his tennis shoes.

"Do you want lots of cheese in your eggs?" Danny grinned at his son as he walked to the refrigerator to grab the shredded cheese.

"I don't care," Lex grumbled, folding his arms over the table and laying his head on them.

Danny sighed as he returned to the stove and added a handful of the shredded cheddar cheese to the scrambled eggs. He thought the move would make things better, but Lex continued acting out and making trouble. Rubbing at his forehead as he mixed the eggs and cheese in the pan, he wondered what he was doing wrong. When the eggs were done, Danny grabbed two plates from the cabinet and served up the eggs onto each other them.

"Eat up, big guy," Danny said cheerily as he sat down at the table with Lex, placing the plates before them. "We've got about ten minutes before we have to be out the door." Eating his breakfast quickly, Danny imagined the drive to the school and dropping Lex off would as troublesome as dragging his son to the doctor's office. That memory made him halt with the fork still in his mouth. He was still shocked that he ended up moving to the same town where Dash Baxter, of all people, lived. Dash was a pediatrician. Danny could hardly believe it.

When he finished his eggs, Danny glanced over at his son. Lex only ate half his breakfast before giving up and putting down his fork. With a tired sigh, Danny collected the plates to put into the sink. After he grabbed his keys from the hook by the back door, he turned back and smiled big and wide at his son.

"Okay. Time to go." Danny opened the back door, and Lex begrudgingly climbed off the chair and followed his father outside to the car.

Once inside the car, Danny glanced over at his son, who hugged his bag to his chest as he pouted unhappily. He tried not to sigh out loud as he started the car and pulled out of the driveway, turning down the street and heading toward the school. It was a quick thirty minute drive to the school, one of the reason he liked that house best when he was looking for a place in this new town. When he parked out front, he turned to Lex, who was already unlatching the seatbelt as he prepared to get out of the car.

"Do you want me to go in with you?" Danny put on a smile, trying to keep a positive attitude in front of his son.

Lex shook his head as he opened the door. "Bye, Dad," he offered quietly before he closed the door.

His heart squeezed painfully as he watched Lex make his way toward the front entrance of the elementary school with the rest of the young children. Danny hated this. He hated seeing his son so miserable, but nothing he did seemed to make Lex happy. He didn't want to spoil his son by lavishing gifts upon him to cheer him up, but even getting him the latest video game that he liked only made Lex smile for a little while. Maybe tearing Lex away from the home he knew and the friends he had there wasn't the wisest choice, but Danny needed a change. He couldn't live in Amity Park any longer. It was killing him.

With a deep breath that he released in a heavy sigh, Danny drove away from the school after Lex disappeared into the building. He told his son a thousand times if he got lost or other students were being mean to him or anything else he could think of to go to a teacher for help. Lex rolled his eyes at every warning his father gave him, probably sick of the constant reminders.

By the time he returned home, Danny didn't feel much like working on his next book. He wouldn't be able to focus on writing out the chapter that he was supposed to finish by the end of the week to send to his editor. Entering the house, he headed straight down into the basement where he started work on a laboratory immediately after they moved into the house. Even after all this time, having his own laboratory remained a strange thing to him. Back when he was fourteen and first learning to use his ghost powers, he never would have imagined that he would be tinkering with his own ghost hunting inventions. He picked up on his parents research in his junior year of high school and even took notes from Vlad.

Danny pulled on a pair of goggles and grabbed his tools before he climbed into the Portal he was building into the far wall of the laboratory. When he left Amity Park to move here, Danny locked up the Portal in his parents' laboratory with a password that no one could crack to ensure that it wouldn't be opened in his absence. There weren't as many ghost attacks in recent in years, and he even became friends with some of his old foes. But some ghosts still liked to slip into the real world and cause trouble for the humans. Danny didn't think there would be much trouble in Amity Park with the Portal locked up tight.

The hours passed quickly as he lost himself in his work on the new Portal. He had all the parts from the one in his old house shipped to this one when they moved. He simply needed to put it back together. But with all the things he needed to take care with unpacking and getting the house set up and everything that needed to be done getting Lex ready for school and finding a doctor that didn't immediately kick them out, Danny didn't have as much time as he wanted to get his laboratory set up the way he liked. Deciding to take a break to eat, Danny climbed the stairs back to the kitchen. As he grabbed a water bottle from the refrigerator, debating what to snack on, the phone rang.

"That better not be Betty," Danny grumbled as he walked over to where the phone hung on the wall. Betty was his editor, and she liked to call frequently when it got close to his deadline. He dreaded getting an earful from her when she learned he barely even started the next part of his book. He took a deep breath to compose himself before answering. "Hello."

"Hello, Mr. Fenton," a woman said, but Danny's brow furrowed when he didn't recognize the voice. "This is Angela Rogers from Goldberg Elementary. We need you to come down here and pick up your son."

The phone nearly slipped from his slackened grip. "I'm sorry," Danny said, praying he heard that wrong. "You need me to pick up my son? But there's still two hours left in the school day." He wanted to bang his head against the wall, wondering what his son could have possibly done to warrant an early dismissal from school. If Lex got kicked out on the very first day, Danny didn't know what he would do. All the other elementary schools in the area were too far away and involved traveling on the busiest streets that would take forever to get him to school in the morning.

"That is correct, Mr. Fenton."

"But-" Danny blinked when he heard the dial tone coming through the earpiece of the phone. He nearly slammed the phone into the wall in his frustration at being hung up on without any explanation. "You can't keep doing this, Lex," he mumbled with a tired sigh as he placed the phone back into its cradle. Danny could understand Lex's feelings because he felt them too: anger, frustration, sorrow. But his son couldn't keep acting out like this.

When he arrived at the school, Danny headed straight for the front office of the school. A woman with wide curves and frizzy gray hair sat at the desk there. Her brown eyes barely flicked up at Danny when he approached the desk before she returned her attention to the magazine that she didn't do a very good job at hiding.

"Hi, I'm Mr. Fenton. I got a call about my son," Danny said, frowning at the woman who continued to pretend that he wasn't standing in front of her.

"The teacher has him in the classroom. I assume you know where it is." The woman, Betty from the sound of her voice, lifted her gaze to give him a sneering look like she thought he was a moron if he didn't even know what classroom his son was in.

"Yes," Danny answered tightly, struggling to keep his eyes from flashing green at the surge of anger toward the woman, who already returned to reading her stupid magazine. Leaving the office, he walked the hallways to the second grade classroom. He was given a tour of the school with Lex earlier, but he wasn't able to meet with the teacher at that time. Sighing, he didn't want this to be the teacher's first impression of him and his son.

"Danny!"

His head jerked up at the gasp when he entered the second grade classroom, and Danny blinked wide blue eyes at the man that sat at the teacher's desk. Tall and still with the broad shoulders and muscular build, Kwan hardly looked any different from how Danny remembered him in senior year at Casper High. He still kept his dark hair cut short, and his smile reached even to his aqua green eyes at the sight of an old classmate.

"Man!" Kwan shook his head as he stood up from the desk and walked over to him. "I saw the name Fenton, but I had no idea you were Lex's father."

"Speaking of that," Danny said as he frowned, not as happy about this reunion as Kwan apparently was. "Why was I called here? That Betty woman didn't exactly tell me anything when she called to tell me I had to come pick Lex up." He glanced around the room and spotted Lex sitting at one of the desks with his head buried in his arms.

"I'm afraid there was a bit of a fight," Kwan answered, mirroring Danny's frown as he glanced at Lex. "He refuses to tell me what started the fight with the other boys, both of whom have already been sent home. Since Lex threw the first punch, the principal wants him have a three day suspension from school." When he turned his gaze back on Danny, Kwan wore a sympathetic look, like he didn't completely agree with the punishment.

"I'll try to talk to him about not starting fights." Danny sighed. This was actually the first time he got called about Lex starting a fight. "I'm really sorry about this."

"Don't sweat, Danny." Kwan patted him on the shoulder then leaned in closer. "Lex seemed pretty upset about something. I think the other two boys did something to provoke him into starting the fight. But," he sighed, "since he won't tell me anything, I have no idea what started it."

Danny stared at the other man for a moment, his brain feeling like it broke at some point during this short encounter. He couldn't understand Kwan being nice to him. It was as strange as the meeting Dash at the doctor's office and not getting a fist to the face upon first seeing each other. He guessed they had all changed a lot over the years since they graduated from high school. Raking a hand through his raven locks, he turned to his son.

"Come on, Lex. We're going home now." Danny watched as Lex climbed off the chair and shuffled toward the door of the classroom. His head was bowed, but Danny could see a darkening bruise on his son's cheek. "I promise he'll be better behaved in the future. He doesn't usually start fights like this."

"Seriously, Danny, you don't need to keep apologizing. Up until the fight started, Lex seemed like a very well behaved student." Kwan glanced at the clock on the wall. "And I should probably go gather the rest of the class from their impromptu recess time." He gave Danny another pat on the back as he left the classroom.

Crouching down in front of his son, Danny placed his hands on Lex's shoulders. The boy refused to lift his head, staring intently down at his sandals. "Lex, will you tell me what happened?" He spoke calmly, not trying to sound furious about what happened and accusing him of doing something bad. At least not until he knew what exactly started the fight.

"They were talking," Lex mumbled quietly, and Danny had to lean in closer to hear him. "And he mentioned he didn't have a mother. And," he hiccupped, "they started teasing him. So I told them to stop, but they wouldn't listen. And he was crying!" He jerked his head up, fat tears gathering in his eyes. "So I punched them. Because they wouldn't stop." He reached up, rubbing at his eyes to wipe away the tears as they started falling down his cheeks.

Danny didn't think it was possible for his heart to break any more than it was at that moment. He pulled his son into his arms, holding him close as Lex sobbed into his shoulder. "I'm sorry, Lex," he mumbled softly, squeezing his arms comfortingly around the boy. He wish he could be like Sam in this moment. He wish he could sing that silly song she made up that always got a smile out of their son, even when he was in the worst of moods. But whenever he tried that, Lex only whined at him to stop with his hands covering his ears.

"I want to go home. I want Mom." Lex sobbed into his father's shoulder.

"I know." Danny stroked his hand through Lex's blond locks. "I wish she was here too." He sighed when he heard the sound of footsteps and children's voices. It sounded like Kwan was returning with the rest of the second grade class. "All right, big guy. It's time to go home." He pulled away, and Lex rubbed at his eyes again.

Taking his son's hand, Danny led the way out of the classroom as the swarm of little seven year olds reached the door in a chattering mass. Danny caught Kwan's eye, and the other man smiled with a small bob of his head before he followed his students into the classroom. They were about to walk away when one of the boys broke away from the group. He caught up to them and tugged on Lex's sleeve. Danny lifted his brows as he watched the awkward silence between the two boys. The other boy was smaller with short raven hair and bright blue eyes. He played nervously with the hem of his jersey top with the number four printed on the front. Then the boy suddenly hugged Lex for a brief moment before he darted away into the classroom.

"Well, it looks like you've made at least one new friend." Danny smiled at Lex, who tried to smile back, but it didn't quite reach his eyes. Bending down, Danny picked up his son and balanced him on his hip as he walked down the hallway to the school entrance. He hoped the possibility that he made a friend might cheer Lex up, but apparently it didn't. Maybe spending the next three days home together would help. He could hope. He doubted Lex would magically become that happy child he was three years ago in that short amount of time, but he could hope that some of the sadness might ease away. Sometimes, he wanted to seek out Clockwork and turn back time. Or make a wish from Desiree. Or convince Ghost Writer to use his Quantum Keyboard. But he knew it wouldn't be allowed. Clockwork would refuse his request and would stop the other two from altering the events that happened. Danny hugged his son as they left the school building.


	3. Chapter 3

Dash sighed tiredly as he entered his house after a long day of work. One woman rushed into the office, crying out in a panic over a red spot on her baby's face. Dash shook his head over that one when he recalled that the red spot was merely a lipstick mark, probably rubbing off on the baby when the mother kissed her child. Another child was brought in suffering from a sore throat that refused to open his mouth so that Dash could take a look at it. Closing the front door, he was glad for the day to be over so that he could relax a little, or at least relax as much as he could before-

"Daddy!" The small boy bounded into the front hall, leaping at Dash to give him a big hug.

"How's my little guy today?" Dash crouched down, scooping his son into his arms before he stood up straight again. He frowned severely when he took a look at the young boy with short raven hair that currently stuck up in all directions. Paint was smeared over his impish face in colors of red and blue and green. His blue eyes shone bright as he grinned at his father. But none of that erased the slight bruising on his chin.

"Well," the boy said, drawing out the word like he was debating how to tell the story of his day, "I thought today was going to be really boring." He pulled a face, rolling his eyes up and gagging. "But then Uncle Kwan announced that there was a new student in class. He looked like he was going to be a kind of jerk, but then Jeremy and Vincent were picking on me because they were talking about their mommies and when they asked me something, I told them I didn't have a mommy." His expression fell, his little hands curling tightly around the stiff material of Dash's shirt, and that sad look stabbed at Dash's heart.

"You know there's nothing wrong with not having a mother, right?" Dash couldn't count the number of times that he asked that question of his son. He knew things would probably be easier on him if he had a woman in his life, someone that could act motherly to his son and fill that void that came with not having both parents.

His son never knew his mother, and Dash planned to keep it that way. He only dated the woman for about two months before they called off their relationship. Or he should say, she dumped him like a piece of garbage when he refused to waste any more money on unnecessary gifts for her. He had medical school to pay for and didn't have the money to constantly buy her fancy things like diamond earrings. When she left his life, Dash couldn't be happier. Toward the end of the relationship, he was starting to question why he ever agreed to date her.

Nine months later, a little bundle of a squirming baby landed on his doorstep with nothing more than a note to explain what the child was doing there. When they broke up, she was, apparently, already two weeks pregnant. The note gave the baby's name of Xander and went on to explain that she wanted nothing to do with the baby. Ever. Dash kept the note in his files even seven years later, not out of any sentimental nonsense but to avoid her coming back into his life to claim rights to their son. In his mind, she gave those up completely with her poorly written note.

"Yeah," Xander mumbled sadly with his eyes lowered as he picked absently at Dash's shirt. "But they were being really mean about it, and," his lower lip jutted out in a pout, "I started crying."

Dash tilted his head downward, nearly touching foreheads with his son as he met those bright blue eyes. "There's no shame in crying."

Xander continued pouting. "I know," he mumbled softly. "But," he exclaimed excitedly as his eyes sparkled happily again, "then the new boy stepped in and punched them. I got caught in it." He pointed at the bruise on his chin. "And lost a tooth." He opened his mouth wide and pointed at the gap where his tooth was missing.

"We'll have to put that tooth under your pillow tonight for the tooth fairy," Dash said, which got a wide grin out of his son.

"He was like a knight," Xander continued, throwing his arms out wide. "Swooping in to knock out the bad guys." He brought a small fist around and smacked it into the palm of his other hand. "He's pretty cool. Can we have him over sometime?"

"Fighting isn't good. I don't want you fighting." Dash spoke firmly as he frowned at his son, who immediately lowered his head with an abashed look. "I'll have to talk with this boy's father and see if he agrees, but I'm sure we can arrange some sort of play date for the two of you."

A wide grin spread over the boy's face at that announcement, and Xander threw this arms around his father's neck.

"I thought I heard you come in," Kwan said as he stuck his head out of the kitchen door down the hallway. "Dinner should be ready in a few."

"All right, little guy. Time to wash up." Dash started toward the bathroom.

"Uh uh," Xander complained, scrambling in his father's arm to get down. "I don't need to!"

"That's where your wrong, my little Picasso." Dash chuckled as he sat Xander down on the toilet in the bathroom. Grabbing a wash cloth, he wet it in the sink before turning to his son and scrubbing at the paint smears on his face and arms. "What did you paint today?"

Xander scrunched up his face and tried to pull away to avoid having his face cleaned, but Dash refused to let him get away. "I drew a dinonaut!"

Dash paused in rubbing the paint from between his son's fingers and blinked confused dark blue eyes. "And what's a dinonaut?"

"It's a dinomore that lives in space like an aster- aspro- ascra-" Xander pouted when he could remember how to pronounce the word.

"A dinosaur that's an astronaut?" Dash questioned, biting his tongue to keep from laughing at his son, who flushed darkly but nodded.

"Because dinasores and astanots are both cool. But they're even cooler together! So they're dinonauts!" Xander grinned proudly at his father.

Dash finished cleaning off the paint then reached out and ruffled his son's hair. "Now you're ready to eat." He picked Xander up off the toilet and set him down on his own two feet.

Immediately, Xander zoomed out of the bathroom, tripping over his feet. Dash shook his head at the little rascal as he dried of his hands. After tossing the damp, and much more colorful, towel into the hamper, he left the bathroom and entered the kitchen. The aroma of cooking food hit him much stronger once he was in the same room, and his stomach gave a growl. He realized then the he didn't have much time to eat a very big lunch with patients coming in all day.

"So I hear there was quite the eventful day today at school," Dash commented as he grabbed the gallon of milk from the refrigerator. Getting down three glasses, two tall and one small, he started pouring them each a glass of milk to have with dinner.

Kwan sighed as he turned off the burner on the stove. "I've tried to get those two boys to behave," he said, carrying the pot over to the sink and draining the water from the noodles through the colander already seating in the sink. "It's almost like when the teachers tried to get us to stop acting up in class."

Dash laughed at that comment. "We were quite the little terrors in our days."

"Yeah, well, now I understand why my parents were always sighing in disappointment over my behavior." Kwan filled three plates with the cooked noodles before doling out scoops of sauce over the noodles. "Those two got suspended for the day, but they'll be back tomorrow." He maneuvered the plates in his arms so that he could carry all three at once. "But the boy that stepped in to stop them from picking on Xan has a three day suspension for throwing the first punch." The way he frowned told Dash at once that Kwan didn't think the punishment was fair.

"Well, I guess the principal has to make an example." Dash pursed his mouth, not totally satisfied with the way the punishment was handed out. "I suppose he doesn't want other kids thinking it's okay to fight because they won't be punished for hurting another student."

"I get that." Kwan set the plates down on the table in the dining room. "It just bugs me that the kid who stood up to bullying is the one getting the worst punishment."

Xander was already sitting in his place at the table with his painting held up in front of him as he grinned widely. If he hadn't known what it was supposed to be, Dash might have had a hard time guessing at the strange shapes blotted onto the paper. If he squinted just a little, it could almost look like a dinosaur. Maybe.

"That looks amazing!" Dash set down the glasses of milk before he ruffled his blushing son's hair again. "Put it away though. I don't it getting ruined while we eat." Dinner was bound to result in Xander needing to be washed up yet again, especially since Kwan decided on cooking spaghetti. Xander bounced out of his chair to put the painting on the coffee table in the front room before he returned to the dinner table.

"Can he come over tomorrow?" Xander begged as he picked up a fork and started twisting noodles around it, using both his hands. He turned his bright blue eyes onto his father, begging with a pout on his face.

"I told you. I'll have to talk with his father first," Dash said with some sternness to his voice to let Xander know that asking again and again wouldn't result in a different answer. But he was glad to see his son taking a liking to someone. Making a friend wasn't easy when Jeremy and Vincent were always bullying Xander. Their teasing put a target on Xander's back that made the other students seem to keep their distance.

It was funny, Dash thought, how life turned around when he became an adult. When he was child then into his teen years, he was a bully, picking on the less popular, those that didn't fit in with the normal crowd, and he saw nothing wrong with it. Now that he was an adult with his own son, he got angry when he saw children bullying others, especially his son who was too kind a boy to push back when he was shoved. Dash didn't think he wanted his son turning out like him, becoming a bully.

"What's this about inviting someone over?" Kwan asked curiously as he cut up his noodles, a fact that always made Dash roll his eyes at his friend.

"Sounds like Xan wants to be friends with that new kid in class," Dash answered as he picked up his glass of milk to take a sip.

Kwan nodded with a secretive grin on his face that made Dash raise an eyebrow in a silent question. "Oh, you mean Lex," he said, waiting to see his friend's reaction, and Dash nearly choked on his milk when he heard that name, his brain stalling and not believing that it could be the same boy. "I met his father when he came to pick him up. I had no idea Fenton was living here. Even more shocking that he had a son!"

"Who's Funton?" Xander asked, glancing between the two adults.

When he looked at his son, Dash resisted the urge to sigh tiredly at the mess of red sauce around Xander's mouth. "He's just someone we used to know when we were your age," he explained and shot a look at Kwan that told him not to mention anything about the bullying. His eyes narrowed at the amused grin on his friend's face. "I knew he was in town, but it didn't occur to me that he would be attending the same school."

That comment got Kwan to blink, the grin falling into a look of surprise. "You already knew he was here? And you didn't tell me?"

A smirk came over Dash at that shocked expression. "He brought Lex in for a physical for the school records." He shrugged and ate some more of his spaghetti. "His son bit me." When Xander giggled, Dash reached over and poked at his side. "Think that's funny, Picasso?" He wiggled his finger, making Xander laugh even harder.

The rest of the meal was filled with quiet chatter about random topics. After they finished eating, Dash dragged Xander back into the bathroom to wash spaghetti sauce from his face and hands. It made him wonder how much of his time was spent in bathrooms washing up after his messy son. When they walked out, Kwan was grabbing his coat from the hook by the front door.

"Leaving already?" Dash questioned as Xander raced down the hall and attached himself to Kwan's leg. Tilting his head up, the boy pouted at his teacher, not wanting him to go.

"Yeah," Kwan said as he crouched down and dragged Xander into a fierce hug. "You guys don't really want me hanging around all night."

"I've already told you." Dash placed his hands on his hips. "We've got plenty of room here. You don't have to go back to your lonely little apartment every night."

"And what if I have a hot date I want to bring home?" Standing up straight again, Kwan smirked at his friend.

Dash rolled his eyes. "Please, the last woman you dated was a total mess. You have, like, the worst taste in women."

Kwan shrugged and pulled on his coat. "Gotta try, right? Who knows? Maybe the next woman I meet will be the one."

"Yeah, yeah." Dash held the door open as they said their good nights. After closing the front door, he dropped his gaze to his son. "Guess it's just you and me again tonight."

"Can we watch _Inviso-Bill Rescues_?" Xander asked hopefully, bouncing on the balls of his feet in excitement.

"What? Again?" Dash sighed dramatically, like it was such a chore to watch the movie again. Xander pushed out his lower lip, tugging on his father's pant leg. "I guess we can watch it if that's what you want." With a happy cheer, Xander dashed into the front room and hopped onto the couch, settling down comfortably as he got ready to watch the movie. Dash rolled his eyes at that reaction as he put in the disc and hit play. Flicking on the television, he dropped onto the couch, and Xander immediately curled up at his side, grinning madly as the movie started.


	4. Chapter 4

Morning came all too soon with the sunlight trying to seep through the thick, heavy curtains of his bedroom. Danny forced his eyes to crack open despite his desire to remain asleep. His gaze fell immediately upon his son curled up beside him and half buried in the fluffy white comforter. Lex was already awake with his bright blue eyes gazing at his father and his blond locks in even more of a mess from sleeping. After managing to untangle his arm from the covers, Danny reached over and gave his son's head a ruffle.

"Hey there, grumpy locks," Danny greeted teasingly and received a frown from the young boy. He sighed internally, wondering if he would ever be able to make his son happy.

"Can we have pancakes?" Lex gave his father a pleading look, the one where sadness shone in his eyes as he pouted, the one that always broke Danny's heart and made him want to give his son everything that he asked for even though Danny knew he shouldn't.

With a sigh, Danny dragged himself out of bed. "I suppose we can have pancakes today. But don't expect me to give you pancakes every time you get suspended from school." He placed his hands on his hips as he glared down at his son.

Lex frowned, curling into an even tighter ball under the covers. The boy seriously knew how to pull at his father's heart, and if he kept it up, Danny wasn't certain how he would ever say no to him.

"Did I do bad?" Lex asked in a small voice, misery written all over his face and seeping into his speech. He frowned in that way he always used to do when he knew he was in trouble and was awaiting his parents to lay down the punishment. Danny saw that look many times in the past, like when Lex was playing in the house and broke a lamp or that time he tried to sneak cookies before dinner and ended up spilling them all on the floor.

"No," Danny walked around to the other side of his bed, "you did right to stand up against the bullies. The fighting part is where you went wrong." He grabbed Lex under the arms and pulled him free of the comforter. It made him proud that Lex would protect another boy from being picked on, but Danny really couldn't take his son turning into some violent child that acted out by punching other children. He frowned as he thought that maybe Sam was right about not starting to train Lex at such a young age. She was completely against the idea, though Lex was eager to learn when the topic came up for discussion.

As soon as his little bare feet hit the floor, Lex dashed out of the bedroom, heading straight for the kitchen. Shaking his head, Danny followed after his son. When Danny reached the kitchen, Lex was already pulling out mixing bowls and pans from the cupboards. But it was all too much for this little arms, and they clattered to the floor with loud bangs and clangs. Danny winced with each noise of the dropping pans. Lex glanced up at his father and cringed.

"Sorry," the boy mumbled softly as he lowered his gaze.

"Why don't you set the table?" Danny crouched and picked up the pans and bowls, sighing internally that his son grabbed out more than what he needed for making pancakes.

With a bob of his head, Lex went to grab forks and knives for the table. Danny set out one of the mixing bowls and got started on making the batter for the pancakes. He threw a glance over his shoulder from time to time to check on his son. Once he finished placing out the forks and knives, Lex sat in his seat at the table, his little legs kicking in the air as he waited anxiously for the pancakes to be ready.

"Did you like the new school?" Danny asked as he stirred the mix into a smooth consistency.

Lex shrugged, his shirt slipping a little down his shoulder at the action. "It was okay." He frowned, and his kicking stopped. "Those boys were jerks." He turned his gaze toward his father. "Is it bad not having a mommy?"

Danny nearly poured far too much of the batter into the hot pan at that question. He dreaded when that question came up, and he knew it would eventually. "Of course not," he answered, forcing down the lump lodged in his throat. "There are lots of families where there's no mother. That doesn't mean anything bad." How was he supposed to talk about this stuff with his son? He felt so lost and confused.

Lex rested his head on the table, watching as Danny flipped the pancakes when one side was nicely golden brown. "They seem to think it's a bad thing."

"You don't listen to them," Danny told him firmly. "They're young and don't know everything. Not having a mother doesn't mean there's anything wrong with you. If they start making fun of you for that reason, you just ignore them." It was the only advice he could think to give his son.

When the pancakes were ready, Danny served them up onto plates and carried them over to the table. Lex bounded off his chair and headed for the cupboard where he knew the syrup was kept. Danny set the plates down as he took his seat, waiting for his son to bring over the syrup. Lex climbed back into his seat, sitting on his knees as he pried at pulling open the syrup top. Before his son could get it open, Danny took the bottle away from him. Popping open the top, he poured a small amount of syrup over each of their pancakes.

"That's not a lot," Lex complained as he frowned, poking at the pancakes with his fork.

"You don't need that much." Danny cut into his pancakes, dividing the stack into small triangles.

The pout remained on his face as Lex tore at his pancakes, sawing his knife through them and ripping them into misshapen chunks. He stabbed his fork through one large piece that was practically half the pancake and crammed the sticky mass into his mouth. Syrup dripped from his lips as he chewed on the mouthful, and Danny tried not to chuckle at his son, who was bobbing his head as he ate the pancake. They ate in silence for a while, Lex making more of a gooey mess around his mouth and down his chin. When Danny had only a few more bites left, the phone rang, his cell phone with the silly ringtone that Tucker programmed into it ages ago that he never bothered to change.

"Think that's going to be Betty?" Danny asked his son with an inward sigh.

"Daddy's been a slacker." Lex grinned around the fork in his mouth.

"You," Danny said as he reached over and poked Lex in his stomach. The boy squirmed away from him, pulling the fork from his mouth as he laughed. The phone continued to ring, and with a sigh, Danny got up to answer it. His cell phone sat on the counter near some stacks of books with loose papers crammed into them, filled with random notes. He picked it up, hitting the accept button on it as he lifted the phone to his ear. "Hello?"

"Hey, Danny," Tucker greeted with the sounds of a grin in his voice. "You sound tired. Did you only just wake up or something?"

"Yeah, sort of." Danny scratched a hand through his raven hair. "Lex and I were just having breakfast."

"Who that?" Lex sat up on his chair, more alert in his curiosity.

"Uncle Tucker," Danny answered as he turned halfway back toward the kitchen table.

"What's Lex doing home?" Tucker questioned in confusion. "Shouldn't he be at school by now?"

From the squeak he heard in the background, Danny assumed that Tucker was leaning back in his chair to check the time. "There was," he pursed his mouth to one side, "an incident at school. But that's not anything to worry about. What are you calling about?" Leaning back against the counter, he hoped this wouldn't be another of the usual calls checking up on how he was doing. Those kinds of calls got tiring after the first year. His parents constantly visited him to see if he was doing all right. Jazz called him whenever she could, and Danny suspected she was hoping he would start rambling on about everything that he was feeling like one of her patients.

"Uh oh. What happened?" Tucker sounded like he was wincing, like he didn't know if he wanted the answer.

Danny shook his head. "Just a little fight. Nothing to be worried about."

"Whoa! Lex fought someone? Man, if Sam-"

Danny frowned and suspected that Tucker did too. "He only punched another boy," he said, breaking that tense moment. "So he got a three day suspension." He sighed, wrapping his free arm around his waist. "Not the best first impression, but at least it was only because he was standing up to a bully."

"Guess he takes after his mother more than you," Tucker teased.

"In some ways." Danny glanced toward his son, who was stealing the remainder of his father's pancakes. Lex definitely had his mother's strong will. What worried Danny were certain traits that his son inherited from him. Vlad assured him there was nothing to be concerned about, but that didn't stop Danny from fretting over it regardless.

"Well, I've got some vacation time coming up soon," Tucker said, drawing Danny out of his thoughts. "I was thinking of visiting Amity Park to see you for a few days."

Danny blinked then laughed. "Uh, I'm not in Amity Park."

"What?"

At the stunned response, Danny laughed harder. "I moved to California."

"What?" Tucker repeated in a louder shout. "Why didn't you tell me?"

"I sent you a text about it." Danny gawked at the wall, even though Tucker wouldn't be able to see his reaction. "That was, like, over a week ago. Dude, you seriously need to get out of that hole sometime and return to the world of the living."

"Hey!" Tucker complained. "I'm not always locked up in work. Oh, you did send me a message." He chuckled sheepishly. "That works out then! I got relocated to Washington. I can probably make it down there next week or something."

"Foley, that better not be a personal call," a woman said in the background with annoyance in her tone.

"Oops, better go. Talk to you later!"

Danny shook his head at the dial tone that followed. Hanging up the cell phone, he set it back on the counter before he turned to face his son. "Well, big guy," he placed his hands on his hips, "if you want to help me out today, you'll have to clean up that mess on your face."

Lex scrunched up his face. "But your books are boring. Why would I want to help?"

"You liked that one with the ghost dragon," Danny argued, slapping a hand to his chest with a wounded expression. The majority of the books that he wrote weren't exactly for children, but he did have a few fairy tales that he wrote under a different name that his son seemed to enjoy. "But I actually meant working down in the lab."

Lex's bright blue eyes lit up at the mention of the laboratory. Hopping off his chair, he darted out of the kitchen to wash up in the bathroom. Danny grabbed the dirty plates and silverware to put in the sink for washing later. When Danny reached the door to the basement, Lex was already there, bouncing on the balls of his feet in excitement. He knew he wasn't allowed into the laboratory unless his father was with him, and even touching the doorknob could result in punishment. The corner of his mouth tugged upward as Danny opened the door to the basement, happy that Lex was able to follow some rules.

The rest of the morning was spent in the laboratory while Danny worked on finishing the construction of his Portal. He allowed Lex to help him, handing him parts and tools when needed. Lex grinned like mad when Danny actually let him screw one part into place. They took a small break for lunch, eating ham and cheese sandwiches, after which they washed the dishes together and Danny set it to run when the last dish made it a full load.

"Are you ready?" Danny asked much later that afternoon when he finished installing the last of piece of the Portal.

"Turn it on!" Lex cheered happily, clapping his hands.

Smiling at that reaction, Danny double checked that all the settings were correct and all the on switches were flipped. His son kept back, as he was told, while his father picked up the wires. Staring into the hollow opening surrounded by metal walling, Danny shoved the plug end of one wire into the end of the other wire. Sparks immediately fired within the Portal, popping and snapping before a whirl of green energy filled the opening of the Portal. Tension melted from his shoulders as Danny sighed with relief. It worked when he built back at his old house, but there were always things that could go wrong in the construction: crossed wiring, a switched not flipped, a part installed backwards, or any number of a hundred other reasons. At least it didn't require electrocuting himself again to get it working.

"Do we get to go in now?" Lex asked, already taking steps toward the entrance into the Ghost Zone.

"Nice try." Danny laughed as he crept up behind his son and grabbed him around the waist. Tugging the small boy closer to him, he danced his fingers over his son's belly, making Lex squirm as he was tickled. "You're still too young for a trip into the Ghost Zone."

"Aw," Lex complained, grabbing hold of a finger on each of Danny's hands to stop the tickling. "You always say that. When will I be old enough?"

"At the rate of things, I think he just wants to keep you permanently out of the Ghost Zone."

Danny frowned at the voice as he turned his gaze to the Portal, watching as two figures stepped through the swirl of green mist and into his laboratory. The woman stood a few inches shorter than he. Over the years, she adapted her original black and white costume to a lilac and white themed jumpsuit that hugged around the curves of her body, abandoning the loose pants that she used to wear in her ghost form. She added a lilac sleeveless hoodie that was accented with a darker purple. Her white hair was much longer now, and she still kept it pulled back in its usual ponytail.

Beside her was a man that still made Danny tense up when he laid eyes on him. Nothing much changed about him from his fiery white hair with the little tail tied low at the back of his head and the goatee upon his chin. His costume was exactly the same as Danny remembered when they first fought during his freshmen year. Danny now had a slight height advantage over the male ghost, though he tried not to gloat over that fact too much.

"I'm not putting him in danger," Danny said flatly as he hugged his arms around his son. "He still doesn't have the greatest control over his powers, and there are still plenty of ghosts in there that would love the opportunity to hurt him to get at me. Until he can defend himself well against threats, he's not going in there."

"Just let me at them," said the male ghost, folding his arms over his muscular chest. "I'll kick their asses for touching even a hair on his head."

"Watch your language, Dan," Danny ordered as he clapped his hands over Lex's ears. He didn't need his son picking up on foul language and repeating it all when he went back to school.

"You've really turned into such a worrywart," commented the female ghost as she crouched with her arms spread out wide. Lex didn't need much more invitation than that. Turning intangible, he phased right through his father's hold before darting toward her and hopping into her arms.

"Now you're going to pick on me too, Elle?" Danny frowned as he stood up straight, placing his hands on his hips. It was sometime after he graduated from high school that Danielle decided to change her name to Elle. It certainly helped with the confusion that came up in conversation when the two of them were involved.

"You make it too easy." Dan smirked at the scowl on Danny's face. "You should let me teach my little brother a few moves. I'll have him ready to kick some ghost butt in no time."

"Don't call him that." Danny glared darkly at Dan, who looked far too amused at his younger half's anger. He knew Dan did it on purpose to get a rise out of him, but he couldn't stop himself from snapping whenever Dan referred to Lex as his little brother. It was disturbing enough when Dan called him dad. "And I really don't want you teaching my son anything."

"You're no fun."

"He seems to have phasing down rather well," Elle said after releasing Lex from her embrace.

"I can do more too!" Lex grinned happily before his face scrunched up in concentration. The bright white rings appeared around his waist, and the three adults watched as the rings passed over the young boy, converting his human appearance into a ghostly form. His white shirt turned black while his black shorts became white. His bright blue eyes shifted to green, much like his father and Elle. His blond hair, however, didn't change to white like the rest of them. It didn't even turn black like Vlad's hair when he transformed into Plasmius. Before the three adults stood the young boy now sporting reddish purple hair that shocked Danny the first time he saw his son transform.

"So you've finally learned how to transform into your ghost half." Dan smirked as he ruffled the boy's hair.

Danny frowned as he stared at cloned and future evil versions of himself. "Were you both waiting for me to finish the Portal?" His brain was having a hard time wrapping itself around the fact that they arrived right after the Portal was activated.

"Duh!" Elle rolled her eyes at him. "We wanted to see you."

"I really don't need you all checking up on me all the time." Danny sighed, shoulders slumping in depression.

"Someone's full of himself." Dan snorted. "We didn't just come for you, Mr. Giant Ego. We came for the little guy too." He pointed a finger at Lex, who was floating a few inches off the floor.

"Valerie would have come too if she wasn't busy with work," Elle said before she sneakily attacked Lex from behind, grabbing hold of him as he gave a yelp of surprise. "We're gonna miss getting to watch over this little punk all the time."

Danny glanced at Dan, who quickly snapped his red eyed gaze away, though Danny half suspected that his evil future enjoyed babysitting Lex from time to time. "Well, with the Portal set up now, you'll both be able to visit anytime you want," he said as he walked over to the Portal and pressed the button to close the doors. "I suppose you'll both want to stay for dinner." He gave them a questioning look. All at once, Elle and Lex shifted into their human forms while Dan adopted a human disguise. Lex was first to race up the stairs. Danny followed the group out of the laboratory with a tired sigh. He should have expected these two visitors, but somehow it didn't quite register to him that they would appear before him the second he activated the Portal. His life would apparently never be dull, or at least it wouldn't be dull for very long.


	5. Chapter 5

Finally it was Friday, and the last period of the day was slowly winding down to the last bell ringing to signal the end of school. Kwan sighed inwardly as he walked around the classroom to check on his students. He loved being a teacher, but sometimes it could feel rather draining making up lesson plans and writing up tests. The weekend at least offered a chance to relax. He glanced at the various things the second graders were drawing. It didn't surprise him to see most of the girls drawing things like flowers and rainbows and themselves dressed up as princesses. He did feel a little concerned about Mirabelle's obsession with drawing bats and spiders. He made a mental note to talk with her parents at the next parent teacher night.

"I was using that!" Jeremy complained, snatching a red crayon out of another boy's hand.

"But," the boy, Billy, protested in a feeble voice as he pouted, lowering his brown eyes in defeat. Jeremy was certainly aiming to be the king bully at the school, at which Kwan frowned, already knowing well how the route of a bully went.

Finding an unused red crayon on another table, Kwan brought it over to where Billy sat. "Here you go." He held it out to the little brunette, who grinned brightly at his teacher before happily returning to his drawing of a family portrait.

"Cry baby," Jeremy muttered under his breath, glaring at Billy, who hunched over as his expression fell. The number one class bully was busy working on a drawing of what Kwan could only guess was meant to be a lion eating a zebra, or at least something that was very bloody from all the red the boy was scribbling all over the paper.

Kwan was _definitely_ having words with his parents, feeling rather disturbed over Jeremy's obsession with violence at such a young age. "Jeremy," Kwan dropped a hand on the boy's head and turned it so that their eyes met, "I will not tolerate name calling in my class." Aqua green eyes narrowed into the boy's steely gray eyes. He was almost proud that he could still pull off the intimidating glare that made Jeremy gulp fearfully. He didn't like using such tactics, but he wasn't getting through to the bully with gentle words.

Jeremy nodded with a frightful look in his eyes that Kwan could only hope meant that he would finally heed his teacher's warnings. Frowning, Kwan doubted it would be that easy. He and Dash certainly never listened to their teachers about name calling and bullying. Standing up, he left the boy to return to his drawing as he continued walking around the classroom. He came to the table where Xander sat and smiled at the joyful little boy with his messy raven locks that were so unlike his father's blond hair.

"What are you drawing?" Kwan asked as he crouched down beside his friend's son. He tried not to show favoritism, going through the list of students in alphabetical order whenever he wanted to call on them to help him with something like passing out material or writing stuff up on the board or reading from their books to the class. But he would be lying if he said Xander wasn't his favorite student. How could he not be when Kwan knew the boy basically since he was a baby? He pretty much helped Dash to raise Xander from the very start. Obviously, the boy was going to hold a special place in his heart.

"It's a rocker ship!" Xander answered excitedly, though the scribbles of colors made it difficult to really discern what he was drawing.

"A rocket ship?" Kwan chuckled at the boy, ruffling the raven locks. "Planning on flying to the stars and finding those dinonauts?"

"Yup!" Xander's head bobbed in a nod as his blue eyes shone with the excitement at the idea.

Kwan smiled before turning his attention to the boy sitting on his other side. He was happy to see the blond boy back in class after the three day suspension for punching Jeremy and Vincent when they were bullying Xander. Lex behaved for the entire day, quietly doing each task assigned to the class and only responding with single word answers or nods and shakes of his head. He kept his distance from the two bullies, and Kwan wondered if that was to avoid getting into another fight with Jeremy and Vincent. He didn't like that miserable expression on his student's face, feeling worried about the boy. After seeing him with his son, Fenton didn't seem like the type that was mistreating his child, and Kwan couldn't imagine that they had any sort of horrible home life.

"And what are you drawing?" Kwan asked with a friendly smile.

Lex glanced up, blue eyes matching his father. "My family," he mumbled quietly as his crayon scratched over the paper.

There was a house in the background. After so many children's drawings, Kwan got pretty good at recognizing what things were supposed to be when they actually had some shape to them. He could pick out Fenton in front of the house and little Lex next to him. Blinking, he frowned at the drawing.

"What about your mother?" Kwan didn't even need to ask who Fenton might have had his son with since he could clearly see some of Manson in the boy. The blond hair threw him for a loop though since both Fenton and Manson had dark hair.

His brow furrowed as Lex picked up a new crayon. A gray one. He pressed the tip to the paper and drew a shape, dragging it up a ways before curving it around and back down. Then he scribbled within the shape, filling it in as a gray blob. Kwan stared at it for a moment, not understanding what the boy was trying to say with that image. When it finally hit him, he felt like he was sacked by a man twice his size, punching him in the gut to add to the injury. Suddenly, he felt like the worst person in the world for even asking that question.

Now his reaction all made sense to Kwan. Of course the boy was going to react badly when he witnessed bullies picking on another boy who didn't have a mother. Xander didn't lose his mother, never knew the woman, but that didn't make it hurt any less for the boy to not have both parents to raise him. Kwan knew Dash was dreading that day when Xander finally started asking questions about his mother, maybe even wanting to meet her. He knew it scared his friend, fearing the fight that might come from it, though he continued to pray that his son would be happy enough with him alone to not run away and seek out the woman that gave birth to him.

Kwan was stunned, not sure what to say in this situation. In his years as a teacher, he was never put in the place to deal with a young boy having lost his mother, and it actually hurt him that he didn't know what to say or do to make the boy feel better about not having his mother anymore. He placed a hand on Lex's shoulder, watching that play of pain over the boy's face as he stared at his drawing. He wished problems like this could be solved with a simple hug, but the world didn't work that way.

The bell ringing saved him from having to think of something to say to the boy. "All right, everyone," Kwan said as he stood up, placing his hands on his hips. "Put the crayons back in the basket." His students immediately started grabbing up the crayons and dumped them into the baskets in the middle of the tables before they went to get their book bags. Kwan dropped his gaze to Lex. "Do you know what bus you're supposed to take home?" This was the boy's first full day at school, and Kwan knew it could be confusing for new students, especially the younger ones, when they had never taken the buses home.

Lex shook his head as he leaned over the table to drop a handful of crayons into the red basket. "Dad is supposed to pick me up. He said to wait in the classroom until he comes."

Kwan nodded, deciding that was fine since he often stayed after school for a couple of hours. When the rest of the class filed out of the room, he waved and said his goodbyes to the departing children. Before the last of them even left the room, Xander was already carrying the crayon baskets over to one of the cubby holes to put them away. Lex sat at the table for a moment before getting up and following his classmate's example. Kwan smiled at that as he walked over to sit at his desk and get some work done on lesson planning and grading the spelling quiz they had in class that day.

Xander was ecstatic that morning at first sight of the blond boy walking into the classroom and tried to stay practically glued to Lex's hip all day. He chattered animatedly at lunch with the boy, though Lex looked like he could barely get a word in, assuming he felt like speaking at all. When he thought no one was looking, Xander even attempted to sneak extra cookies to Lex. Kwan tried not to laugh as he remembered the stunned look on Lex's face as Xander quietly nudged the cookies across the table to where the blond boy sat. It was cute and amusing to watch the pair interacting with each other.

An hour passed while Kwan did busy work and the two boys played with some of the toys in a corner of the room. Xander was making whooshing noises as he swung around one of the action heroes like it was flying in the air. Lex, meanwhile, was frowning at him as he absently pressed Lego pieces together to build something.

"That's not how you fly," Lex argued, and Xander stopped in his playing to blink at the blond boy.

"How would you know?" Xander questioned with the slightest hint of a pout.

"Oh, that's a trade secret, kid."

Kwan jerked at hearing the man's deep voice and snapped his head toward the doorway of the classroom where a man stood with a crooked smirk and his arms folded over a broad muscular chest. He blinked at the strange man, baffled by his arrival. The man's long raven hair was pulled back into a low ponytail, and mischief danced in his blue eyes. A frown spread onto Kwan's face the longer he stared at the man, feeling increasingly like he didn't care for the man.

The man stepped farther into the classroom and crouched. In a moment, Lex raced toward him, and the man caught the little boy under the arm before he sprang upright again, lifting Lex up over his head. Lex gave a shriek of laughter at the action, wiggling his arms and legs and smiling for the first time Kwan noticed since they met.

"How was school, Tyrannosaurus Lex?" the man questioned as he lowered Lex back to the ground.

"You like dinesores?" Xander asked in wonder, having followed his friend over to the man.

"You should have seen me tangle with one," the man answered, nodding as he chuckled at the little boy's gasp.

"I'm sorry. But who are you?" Kwan stood from his seat at the desk and walked over to place himself between man and children. Folding his arms, he narrowed his eyes, not sure what to think of the relationship between the stranger and Lex when he had no knowledge of whom this man was.

The man stared, a slight widening of his eyes in surprise, as he leaned forward, like he was examining Kwan's face. Then he laughed, a deep throated chuckle that set the teacher on edge. "I never would have pictured you for a teacher."

His mouth pursed as Kwan watched the amusement playing through the man's eyes. "And we've met before?" He lifted an eyebrow in question.

The man's grinned tugged a little wider across his face. "No, I suppose we haven't. Not quite." Something in his eyes made Kwan feel uneasy about this encounter. "I guess Danny never mentioned me. I'm his cousin. Dan." He stuck out a hand.

"Dan?" Kwan parroted, eying the hand suspiciously. "Not very creative with names, huh?"

The man shrugged and dropped his hand when Kwan failed to shake it. "Danny had some business come up, so he sent me to pick up the little guy."

"Can Lex come over to play?" Xander begged, tugging at Kwan's pant leg. He pouted with big, wide eyes pleading for his teacher to consent to his request.

Sighing, Kwan knelt down and placed his hands on the boy's shoulders. "This isn't Lex's father. Remember what your dad said? He would arrange a play date for the two of you with Lex's father later." Xander's expression crumbled as he lowered his head at that answer.

"I doubt Danny would mind," Dan said as he dropped a hand on Xander's head. "If Lex wants to play, I'm sure that will be fine. And if Danny has a problem, well, I'm used to taking the blame." He ruffled Xander's hair before walking over and scooping Lex into his arms again. "Do you want to go play with your friend?"

Kwan glanced up to see Lex nodded to the question. Xander bounced excitedly, his blue eyes lighting up again at the prospect of getting to play with the other boy. Heaving a sigh, Kwan stood. "I guess it should be all right then. I can give you directions to the house." He walked over to his desk to write it all down on a piece of paper, though he felt a little skeptical about letting Lex out of his sight while in the presence of the strange man. Lex seemed to know him, and the man claimed to be related to Fenton. There was somewhat of a family resemblance between Dan and Fenton, at which Kwan frowned. But he still didn't feel all that confident about letting his student wander off with some man that he didn't even know.

"We could just all go together," Dan said, interrupting the teacher's thoughts. "Not like I have a car or anything." He chuckled at that, and Lex apparently found something in what he said amusing as well because he joined in with a laugh, hiding his grin behind a hand.

Kwan paused in the middle of writing down directions and stared at the man. "Oh," he mumbled dumbly. "Uh, then just let me pack up." He gathered up his things and placed them into his briefcase as Dan returned Lex to the ground where the blond boy was promptly hugged by a happy Xander. When he was finished, Kwan turned back to them. "Ready to go?" He strolled toward the exit of the classroom, and the others followed him. The two boys raced ahead, Xander holding Lex's hand and dragging him down the hall.

"So, teacher, huh?" Dan questioned, smirking as he shoved his hands into the pockets of his pants.

"That amuses you?" Kwan tried to school his expression but couldn't stop the slight narrowing of his eyes and thinning of his mouth as they left the school. Xander headed immediately for the familiar car owned by his teacher. It wasn't a great car, nothing super fancy about it, kind of rusty in places, but it ran and got him where he needed to go, so he didn't complain much about it.

"Just never imagined that you'd want to be a teacher." Dan shrugged, and his blue eyes glanced over the car. "Nice ride." He chuckled at the sight of it. "I thought you'd have a nice little sports car."

"On my salary?" Kwan scoffed as he unlocked the doors. "I'm lucky I found something in my price range at all." They all climbed into the car, and Kwan waited for them to all buckle up before he started the engine. He glanced at the man beside him, aqua green eyes darting up and down his body. Dan had a little patch of hair on his chin. His black shirt was tight across his chest, hardly disguising the hard, defined muscles beneath it.

"Like what you see?" Dan questioned in a low tone, perhaps trying to keep the boys from overhearing him.

Kwan jolted, snapping his attention back to road as he realized his gaze kept drifting to the odd man beside him. "Like what exactly?" He snorted at the very suggestion. Even with his eyes on the street before him, he could see the smirk on Dan's face out the corner of his eye, and an irrational sense of irritation rolled over him.

The rest of the car ride was fairly quiet with Xander sitting in the back, swinging his legs to thump against the seat under him. When they finally arrived in front of Dash's house, they all climbed out, and Xander dashed to the front door first. The little boy bounced on the balls of his feet, waiting for the rest of them to reach the house. Kwan unlocked the door to let them all inside with the boys entering first while Dan passed, much too closely, to him, hips practically brushing together, which gained another glare from the teacher, who still couldn't figure out this so-called relative of Fenton's.

"So you live with your student's family?" Dan questioned as they followed the two boys into the front room.

"No," Kwan responded with a glare as he left his briefcase beside the couch. "Dash generally works late, so I watch over Xander until he gets home."

Blue eyes opened wide before Dan snapped his gaze toward the two boys. "That," he pointed a finger at Xander, "smiley little boy is Dash Baxter's spawn?" He gaped at the teacher in utter shock.

"Son," Kwan kicked at the man's leg, trying to be subtle enough that it would go unnoticed by the boys, "not spawn."

"My apologies." Dan rolled his eyes.

"Have you read these before?" Xander asked, holding up one of his books for the other boy to see. Kwan recognized the cover immediately, having had to read the book, and others like it, about a million times for his friend's son.

"My dad wrote it," Lex answered before turning his gaze to look at some of the toys strewn out over the front room.

Xander's mouth dropped open wide, and beside Kwan, Dan bit his lip to keep from laughing at the expression of awe. "They're my faboritest books ever!"

Lex swiveled his head back to the raven haired boy. For a moment, he looked contemplative before his grinned. "He got all those ideas from me." He puffed his chest out proudly as Xander gasped in wonder at him.

Kwan nudged Dan in the ribs as the man struggled not to burst into laughter at the sight of Lex trying to impress his new friend. "You can help me work on dinner." Grabbing the man by the ear like he was a misbehaving child, Kwan dragged Dan with him into the kitchen, leaving the two boys to play together. "So how come Fenton's never mentioned you before?" he wondered out loud as he grabbed pork chops and vegetables to cook for dinner.

"He doesn't really like talking about me." Dan had a strange look in his eyes, frowning as he glanced toward the front room where they could see the two boys through the doorway and dining room. "And you still call him Fenton? Guess that's better than Fenturd or Fentina or any number of other nicknames Dash came up with."

"Habit, I guess." Kwan shrugged then grabbed a bag of potatoes and shoved them into Dan's arms. "You're on potato peeling duty." He grabbed a peeler from one of the drawers for the man.

Dan stared questionably at the peeler. "And why am I being subjected to this?"

"You're the one that pushed the whole play date." Kwan grinned at the grumpy frown on the man's face. "Now you must suffer the consequences." He got to work on preparing the rest of the meal while Dan grumbled about stupid potatoes.

Maybe the man wasn't as bad as he original thought. There was still a vibe about Dan that unsettled Kwan, but he at least didn't show any ill intentions toward Lex. And if he didn't have some kind of relationship with Fenton, Dan wouldn't know about those old nicknames or Dash or Kwan, himself. Kwan glanced over at the man, watching as Dan struggled with peeling the potatoes, cursing quietly with a look that suggested he wanted to set the darn thing on fire.

"Fenton talks to you a lot about stuff?" Kwan asked as he frowned.

Dan paused in his murder of the poor potato to stare back at Kwan. "Sometimes," he answered with a shrug.

"About Manson-"

"Don't." Dan moved faster than Kwan could process, pressing a finger to the teacher's lips and silencing him. "That's not a topic for a bully to go prying his nose into." A dangerous look passed through his eyes that chilled the man, and Kwan could have sworn he saw hints of red flash through the dark blue eyes. Kwan wanted to argue that he wasn't a bully anymore, but after staring into those eyes, he decided to remain quiet. Slowly, Dan pulled back, his finger lingering perhaps half a second longer than necessary. After an intense moment between them, they both returned to their jobs of preparing the dinner. They worked quietly, the only noise breaking the silence being the sounds of the two boys playing in the front room.


	6. Chapter 6

Danny poured himself a large mug of strong coffee, still feeling half dead from the long night. He took a sip from the mug and hissed at the heat and the bitterness. But the coffee sent a jolt through his system, waking him up a bit more. He walked over to the kitchen table and collapsed into one of the chairs. Setting down his mug, he scratched a hand through his hair as he dropped his gaze to the newspaper, glancing through the articles on the front page. His eyes glazed over, barely taking in the words as his mind started to drift toward sleep again.

He didn't expect to be gone for such a long time, only getting back home about an hour ago. When Johnny and Kitty got into a spat, it was like a warzone. And, like always, they sought him out to play marriage counselor, a point that amused his sister Jazz to no end. In the past, when he was still merely a freshmen, Jazz thought it was hilarious that a pair of ghosts was seeking Danny out for love advice when he never had a girlfriend at that point. It was kind of funny when he thought back on it, but somehow it always seemed to work out in the end. The couple would ride off on Johnny's motorcycle back to being madly in love with each other. Until the next thing set them off into a shouting match and calling in their favorite counselor to work it out for them. Yet again.

Danny lost count long ago how many times they dragged him into their fight. Raising the mug to his lips, he took another sip in the hopes that it would shock him into a more awakened state. The caffeine buzz would probably send him crashing later on, but for the moment, he needed it to keep from passing out on his feet. He was still behind on his novel, and Betty gave him an earful before he got summoned to play mediator between the bickering couple.

"Dad!" Lex darted into the kitchen, still dressed in his night shirt and shorts. He leaped into Danny's lap, almost making his father spill the hot coffee.

"Morning, big guy." Danny grinned down at his son as he set the mug onto the table. "Did you have a good day with Uncle Dan?" He leaned back in his chair, relaxing and feeling some relief when he saw the smile on his son's face.

"Of course he had fun with his big bro," Dan said teasingly as he entered the kitchen.

"You're _not_ brothers." Danny snapped his gaze toward his evil future self, his eyes glowing green as he glared darkly. He frowned when Dan merely pretended to be scared by the display. Turning his attention back to his son, Danny ignored the full ghost. "What did you do all day?"

"Play with Xan," Lex answered promptly with a bright smile that Danny wasn't used to seeing all that much anymore.

"Xan?" Danny repeated with a lift of his eyebrow. "Is that a boy from your class?"

Lex nodded before his bright blue eyes lit up. "Can he sleep over?" He clasped his little hands before him. "Pwease!"

"Well, I'll have to talk to his father first. But if he's okay with it, I don't see why that would be a problem." Danny laughed when Lex hugged him. "Okay, big guy. First you need to go get dressed." He set his son down on the ground, and Lex quickly darted out of the kitchen to get dressed. When he heard a snicker, Danny frowned and glanced over at his evil future, who lounged casually against the kitchen counter. "What?" he snapped, in no mood for any of Dan's teasing.

"Oh, just debating if I should tell you about Xander's father or not." Dan smirked, lips parting enough to show off sharp fangs. "It might be more amusing to wait until you call him up." He lifted something between two fingers in his raised hand, and Danny guessed it was probably the phone number for Xander's father.

Standing up, Danny walked over to where the full ghost stood in his adopted human guise. "Just spill the beans." He snatched at the scrap of paper, but Dan turned his hand intangible, leaving Danny to grab air. His teeth ground as he glowered at his evil future, wishing the jerk never managed to escape the Thermos.

"Temper, temper," Dan taunted. "You still haven't lost that, I see."

Danny gazed dully at the ghost. "You know how grouchy I get after dealing with Johnny and Kitty for hours. I'm not in the mood to be toyed with by you."

Sighing, Dan folded his arms as he stared at the younger half of his makeup. "It's been a while since I've seen Lex actually happy with someone outside the family." He didn't normally refer to Lex by name, and the fact that he did so now made Danny snap to attention. Dan was in serious mode, and that was rather rare for them. "We're all worried about you."

"How many times do I have to say that I'm fine before you all get it?" Danny's mouth pursed as anger set clearly into his body language. Tension ran through his still long and lanky limbs with only subtle muscle definition. He never beefed out in the same manner as Dan, though he did surpass his evil future in height.

"And running away makes everything fine?" Dan pushed away from the counter, pulling himself up to his full height as he stepped forward to glare at Danny.

"Yeah, okay. I ran away. But I just couldn't deal with living there any longer. I couldn't stay there with the memories. Everywhere I went, I saw her. Living in that house was like being haunted by her ghost." He closed his eyes, hands curling painfully, knuckles aching. "Except that she didn't become a ghost. She didn't have something that left her consciousness clinging to life so that she could come back as a ghost. She's gone. She moved on. And I couldn't do the same there. You don't understand."

"I don't understand?" Dan laughed like it was a riot, an amazingly hilarious joke. But he wasn't smiling. There wasn't a hint of humor anywhere on his face. "I lost her too, remember?"

"You weren't in love with her like I was!"

"You think that matters? I lost Sam. I lost Tucker. I lost Mom and Dad. I lost Jazz. God, I even lost Lancer." Dan grabbed hold of Danny's shoulders and gave him a shake, like trying to jerk him back to reality. "Don't even talk to me about the pain of losing someone when you know damn well that I've experienced the pain of loss too. Or did the reason I turned evil slip your mind?"

"I know." Danny sighed, lowering his head. "I know." He felt tired, exhausted, like he wanted to curl up in bed and sleep, maybe never wake up again, letting everything go. But he had Lex to think about. He couldn't spiral into depression. He had to keep pushing forward for his son. "I just had to get away from there."

"I get it," Dan said, and Danny knew he did. "But we're still worried for you. The way you're acting, the fact that you're still grieving and not moving on. It's affecting Lex. He sees you suffering over losing her, and it hurts him more than just losing his mother. Why do you think he can actually smile when any of us turn up? Because for that moment, he can pretend like everything's normal again. You act like your old self whenever we're around. And until you can stop moping around," Dan poked a finger right between Danny's eyes, "we're going to continue pestering you. For Lex."

"You think I like acting like this?" Danny walked back over to the table and sat down, running his hands through his raven locks. "It's not as easy as flipping a switch to get over it. I can't just pretend that all that time with her didn't happen. That I never had those feelings for her. I can't unseen what happened." His eyes burned suddenly, tears threatening to flow over. "I can't erase Lex seeing her die right in front of him."

Footsteps came closer, and a hand landed on his shoulder. "We're not asking you to just forget." Dan sighed as he dropped into the chair next to him. "We're asking you to let us be there for you. You've been trying to deal with this all on your own since she died. But you have us. Let us help you." He squeezed his hand around Danny's shoulder.

"Did he say yes?" Lex asked excitedly as he bounded into the kitchen again, now dressed in a black shirt with a red oval spot on the front and red sleeves. His blue shorts looked incredibly baggy on him, and Danny wondered if he should have bought them a size smaller, or four sizes smaller.

Danny quickly swiped at his eyes, trying to remove any evidence of his near cry, before he turned to his son, smiling though he knew Dan could tell immediately how fake it was. "Maybe you can convince Uncle Dan to stop being a tease and give me the phone number so that I can call your friend's dad."

Lex turned to Dan with a mischievous look upon his face. The ghost frowned at it as Lex inched slowly toward them. When the little blond boy pounced, jumping toward him, Dan instinctively shifted to intangible. Lex grunted as he landed on the chair, his front half dangling over the edge on the other side.

"No fair!" the boy complained. "That's cheating!"

Dan chuckled as he stood and moved away from the chair before turning solid again. "You only say that because you still don't have control over your powers yet." Smirking, he handed the slip of paper over to Danny.

"Thanks." Danny snatched the paper from Dan's hand as he got up to walk over to the counter to grab the phone. It was still fairly early in the morning, but maybe he would be lucky and wouldn't end up waking up the other family from sleeping in on a Saturday. But if Xander was anything like Lex, he probably woke up far too early in the morning too.

"How long do you think it'll take him to freak out?" Dan questioned as Danny ignored him to dial the phone number on the slip of paper.

"Why would he freak out?" Lex asked innocently confused while Dan snickered.

The phone rang three times before someone on the other end answered it. "Hello?"

Danny's back straightened with a jolt when he recognized that voice. "Dash?" He managed to control his voice and keep from shouting out his shock, like he knew Dan was expecting.

"Fenton?" Dash sounded as surprised to receive a phone call from the other man. "I guess after your son stayed for dinner, this really shouldn't surprise me." There was tiredness in his voice.

Frowning, Danny turned around and narrowed his eyes at Dan, who glanced away while whistling. "He did?"

"Not that I mind, though your cousin is a little weird. You weren't aware that he was over here? Uh, no offense, but shouldn't you pay more attention to where your son goes?"

Danny rubbed at one eye in frustration. He trusted Dan to keep Lex safe under his watch, but sometimes Danny questioned if Dan ever used that brain of his. "I had a late night and only just got back. My _cousin_ ," he ground out the word as he glared angrily at Dan, "failed to mention anything about dinner." He groaned internally at the thought of what Dan might have said or done while in Dash's presence. What if Dan did something that made Dash want Lex to stay away from his son? From the excitement on the boy's face at the idea of the sleepover, Danny guessed Lex really liked the other boy. He didn't want anything to ruin his son making a friend.

"Well, I can understand that. I get some late night calls sometimes. Emergencies. Parents panicking over nothing." Dash sighed tiredly. "So why exactly are you dragging me out of bed at," there was a pause as he checked the time, "nine-thirty?" From the clatter in the background of the phone call, Danny assumed that Dash was nowhere near his bed as it sounded like someone spilled pots and pans onto the floor.

"Well, Lex seems very insistent that I ask if Xan is available for a little sleepover tonight," Danny explained as he leaned back against the counter.

"Pwease!" Lex begged loudly, hoping his voice would reach to Xander's father through the phone.

"Hm," Dash sounded like he was thinking rather hard about the answer to whether or not the sleepover would be all right, "I suppose there's no harm in that." He laughed a little and lowered his voice. "Xan was a little disappointed when Lex had to go home last night. He was pouting up until I put him in bed."

Danny chuckled lightly at that, finding it strange how their sons could get along so well when they were hardly on talking terms during their high school years. "Great. Well, then you can feel free to drop by any time. I'll be home all day."

"You're out of milk," Dan pointed out with a smirk.

Danny glowered at the ghost. "After a quick stop to the store." He frowned as a thought came to him. "I guess I should ask if there's anything that Xan is allergic to, or anything you don't want him eating. Anything in particular he'd want for dinner and breakfast?" He didn't want to accidentally give Xander something with peanuts in it and have him go into anaphylactic shock because the young boy was allergic to them.

Dash was silent for a moment. "Tell you what. I'll bring dinner with me when I come to drop off Xan."

"That's," Danny's mind spun for a moment, "not really necessary." He really couldn't process Dash being nice and offering to buy him dinner. But twelve years passed since they parted ways after high school graduation, and they both clearly changed quite a lot since those days.

"I love Kwan, but it'll be nice to have someone new to talk to for a change. Your cousin doesn't count. He's weird."

Danny chuckled as his blue eyes flicked toward Dan. "Trust me. You have no idea."


	7. Chapter 7

Dash sighed as he strolled through the grocery store to pick up a few ingredients for that night. Maybe he made a mistake offering to bring dinner over when dropped Xander off at Fenton's house for a sleepover. He was starting to second guess his agreement to that, too, but Xander was bouncing with excitement after hearing about the sleepover. Dash could hardly take it back after that. It was still strange to him that his son got along so well with Fenton's son. He never would have dreamed of things turning out this way, but he was happy that Xander finally had someone in class that he liked.

Picking up a red bell pepper, he turned it around in his hand, checking for any signs of rotting or bruising. When he found it satisfactory, he added it to his basket. How long had it been since he shared a meal with someone other than Kwan, Dash wondered? He looked over a few more bell peppers in colors green, red, and yellow. After Xander landed on his doorstep, Dash didn't bother much with dating. His line of work didn't exactly lend him much of a chance to meet anyone to ask on a date. Most of the parents of his patients were married, and the single parents weren't exactly looking to date either.

"Daddy!" Xander appeared at his side, bouncing on the balls of his feet as he held a box in his hands. "Can we pwease get this?" He wore a hopeful smile as his blue eyes sparkled.

Dash frowned down at the box with a ridiculous cartoon bear on the front, advertising the tasty jelly filled cookie crisps. It was one of the reasons he preferred leaving his son at home with Kwan watching him whenever he went to the grocery store. When he came along, Xander always found something sweet to beg to be added into the basket. Dash tried not to keep too much in the way of sugary treats within his house, but he supposed every once and while it would be okay. This was a special occasion as well, with it being his son's first sleepover at another boy's house.

"Just this once," Dash said as he lowered the basket enough for Xander to drop the box into it.

"Your boy is just the cutest thing."

Dash glanced up when he heard the woman's voice. She stood before him dressed in far too short denim shorts and a loose white shirt that slipped down one shoulder to show the strap of her bra. The basket she carried held a bottle of wine and few selections for making sandwiches as well as a small pizza. She smiled at him as she twirled a lock of long blonde hair around her index finger of her free hand. Xander immediately ducked behind his father's leg, his hands curling around the rough fabric of one pant leg.

"Thanks," Dash said awkwardly, reaching down a hand to rest upon his son's head. He never considered using his son in some ploy to get a date with someone. His son wasn't some tool to use to get someone's attention, gain their sympathy, and lure them into a date with him. Before Xander became a part of his life, Dash probably would have eagerly gone on a date with the woman standing before him. She was beautiful. But currently in his life, he simply didn't have any interest in a woman randomly coming up to him in the grocery store while he was with his son.

"Daddy," Xander said in a whiny tone as he tugged on the pant leg he held. He turned his pout up to his father. "Can we go? I want to see Lex."

"Just as soon as I pay for this," Dash explained as he held up the basket. When he turned back to the woman, he offered an apologetic smile. "Sorry. We're on our way to meet up with his friend's family."

"Oh, well," she said, still smiling as she dug around in her purse. When she pulled at a pen, she grabbed hold of Dash's hand. "Give me a call sometime when you're free." She quickly jotted down her phone number on his forearm, not even bothering to give a name of any sort, which didn't make Dash feel all that willing to actually phone her at any point in time.

"I'll," Dash struggled to keep the fake smile on his face, "do that." He nudged his son toward the checkout lines, which were thankfully fairly short.

"You're not _really_ going to call her, are you?" Xander asked, frowning as he tugged at his father's hand. He reached up and scrubbed at the forearm like he was trying to erase the numbers written there by the woman.

"Don't worry about it, little guy," Dash told him, extracting his hand so that he could place his items out for the cashier to ring up. "Wasn't even thinking about it." He ruffled his son's hair, waiting on the young woman with short, straight dark hair to total up his purchase.

"Good." Xander nodded firmly, raven hair flopping about with the action.

Dash chuckled as he paid for the groceries. "All right, little guy." He picked up the bags and headed for the exit of the store with his son trotting along behind him. "Ready to go see your friend?"

"Yes!" Xander hopped along in excitement, not quite managing the art of skipping yet.

They left the grocery store, heading through the parking lot toward his car. Dash kept a tight hold on Xander's hand once they stepped outside to make sure his son didn't go running out into the parking lot where drivers might not see him in time to stop. Once he got Xander strapped in, Dash climbed into the driver's seat and started the car. Xander kicked his little legs as he mumbled along to the music playing from one of Dash's CDs of what he decided were acceptable songs for a child to hear. There were quite a few oldies on it, classic music that was never truly out of style, and songs off cartoon soundtracks.

When he arrived at Fenton's house, Dash parked the car, staring up at the simple house. He almost laughed at his own imaginings that Fenton would have some strange contraption atop the house with that terrible neon Fenton Works sign bolted to the front of it. He shook his head as he climbed out of the car. Fenton wasn't like his parents in that respect. After grabbing the groceries and helping Xander from his seat, handing his son his book bag packed with his overnight clothes, Dash led the way up to the front door and rang the doorbell. He could hear movement beyond the door, the sounds of feet coming closer.

"Hello," greeted the woman that opened the door. She smiled pleasantly up at him, her long ebony hair tied back in a ponytail.

"Uh, hi," Dash responded numbly as he stared at her, confusion creeping into his mind. He was fairly certain this was the right address that Fenton gave him, and he had to admit there was a sort of family resemblance between this woman and Fenton, but he had never met her before.

"Danny, your friend is here," she called, half turning back into the house.

In a moment, the tall, lanky limbed man appeared with a pair of glasses perched upon his nose. Fenton blinked in surprise when he spotted Dash through the open front door. He glanced at the watch on his wrist. "I didn't realize it was so late," he mumbled as he reached back to rub his neck. "Come on in. Er," he glanced into the front room off the side of the hall. "Sorry the place is kind of a mess."

"That's fine." Dash nudged his son into the house. "My house isn't exactly the tidiest place in the world either. Especially when someone likes to play Picasso." He placed his hands on his hips as he frowned down at his son, who didn't even have the sense to look guilty about the times he accidentally got paint on the floor or on the walls.

"Where's Lex?" Xander questioned immediately, excitedly glancing about for the other boy.

Fenton lifted his gaze to the ceiling. "Upstairs. Why don't you go get him, Elle?" With a nod, the woman jogged up the stairs to the second floor.

"Who was that?" Dash questioned as he watched the woman leave.

"Cousin," Fenton answered, like it was an automatic reflex. His gaze dropped to Xander, and something passed through his blue eyes, but Dash couldn't be sure what the look meant with the slight creasing of Fenton's brow.

Dash lifted an eyebrow. "You sure have a lot of cousins I've never heard about."

Fenton laughed, a bit forcefully. "And why would you know about any of my cousins? I mean, it's not like you ever had reason to meet them before."

Dash nodded, realizing that was true. It was simply strange for him to uncover these new facts about someone that he thought he knew in high school. But they were hardly friends. Naturally, he wouldn't know all that much about the other man. That only served to make the whole situation seem all the more bizarre to him. Yet here he was in Fenton's home with a bag of groceries ready to be turned into a delicious meal.

Footsteps thundered down the steps as more than just Fenton's female cousin and son came down them. Dash regrettably recognized the man as Fenton's other cousin from yesterday when he stayed over at Dash's house for dinner. He wasn't sure if he should find it strange that the three of them shared the same raven hair and blue eyes, though Dan's were slightly darker. They were related, so he thought maybe it wasn't that really all that weird in the end. He blinked in surprise when he saw who else was with them. His mouth parted, but he couldn't find the words to speak as he stared at Valerie Gray. She had buffed up over the years, not in that body builder way but her toned muscles were more noticeable than the lean muscled build that Fenton possessed. She kept her hair cut short now, and there was a slight curl at the tips of her hair.

As soon as Lex hit the bottom of the steps, Xander broke away from his father's side. His book bag hit the ground with a thump as Xander darted over to the other boy and threw his arms around Lex in a hug that nearly knocked them both to the ground, if Valerie wasn't standing right behind them and caught them in time to stop them from hitting the floor.

"I never thought I'd see this," Valerie said, chuckling at the pair of boys. "A Fenton and a Baxter actually getting along and being friends?"

"That's the first sign of the apocalypse, right?" the other woman Elle joked.

"Why are you here, Val?" Dash's question came out a bit more rudely than he meant, but he couldn't squash his curiosity. He remembered there being a time when Fenton and Valerie dated, but he never realized that they would stay friends after breaking up. He never kept much in contact with any of the women he dated, except Paulina but she was pretty much the exception since they were always good friends.

"Came to check up on this knuckle head," Valerie answered as she pointed a thumb toward Fenton. "He'd never get anything done if left on his own."

"Hey!" Fenton protested as she grinned teasingly. Frowning, he folded his arms over his chest. "At least when Tucker visits, I'll have someone on my side."

"Yeah, keep thinking that, Pops." Dan wore a smirk which earned a dark scowl from Fenton.

"Dan, stop. You're going to make his head explode one of these days," Elle scolded as she stood between the two male cousins. "We should probably be going now anyway." She lifted her hand, checking the time on the watch she wore. "Got plans for tonight, remember?" She snapped her narrowing blue eyes at Dan.

"Yeah, yeah," Dan grumbled as he walked to the door, not looking entirely pleased with whatever plans they had for the night. Elle followed after him with a bit of a skip in her step.

"It was nice seeing you again, Dash." Valerie smiled at him as she passed, no hint of bitterness toward him in her green eyes. Dash wasn't exactly the nicest person in the world to her after her father lost his job and she dropped in social standing at Casper High. But like with Fenton, it seemed time washed past grievances under the bridge with Valerie. "Maybe we can hang out some time later." She gave a wave before she followed the cousins out the door.

"They seemed like they were in a hurry to get out of here," Dash commented after the door shut behind the three adults. His gaze drifted back to Fenton.

"They wanted to check out the town." Fenton shrugged. "Uh, so dinner?" He pointed at the grocery bags in Dash's hand as he lifted a questioning eyebrow. "When you said picking something up, I thought you'd get like a kiddies meal at McDonald's or something."

Dash shrugged. "I decided to cook instead." He still couldn't explain why he was doing this beyond wanting to have someone new to talk with, who wasn't some weirdo like Fenton's cousin. And if their sons were going to be friends, the least they could do was try to get along with each other.

"Right." Fenton gave him a strange look, and Dash guessed that the man was as clueless about this whole dinner thing as Dash was. "The kitchen's this way." He led the way through the house toward the kitchen.

Lex tugged his friend into the front room, which Dash noted did look like a disaster zone when he passed it on the way to the kitchen. They would be close enough playing in the front room for the two adults to hear them if they caused some sort of accident. The kitchen was nice and spacious with enough room for a table to be placed within it and not encroach too much into the work space for cooking.

"So pans," Fenton explained, showing where everything was for Dash. "Cooking utensils. Knives. Cutting boards. Oils. Spices." He turned around to face Dash. "Uh, anything else you need?"

Dash shook his head. "Nope. That's all I should need." He set the bag down on the counter, first removing the box of cookie crisps and placing them out of sight behind some white ceramic jars on the counter so that Xander wouldn't be able to spy it right when he entered the kitchen. The boy had some sort of radar when it came to sweets. If it was within view, he immediately zeroed in on it.

"Well, I'll just stay out of your way then." Fenton headed out the door to the kitchen to go check on the children.

Dash got to work on preparing their dinner, slicing up the bell peppers and seasoning the slivers of steak. He got used to cooking his own meals during college and medical school, having to get creative sometimes when he had hardly anything in the refrigerator. Kwan was a big help in teaching him to cook because his friend came from a large family that usually cooked their meals together. From an early age, Kwan spent a lot of time in the kitchen with his mother. Dash laughed under his breath as he thought about his friend. He always imagined Kwan would settle down and have a child long before he, himself, did. Kwan was totally the family guy type, yet he continuously failed to find someone to share his life with.

Dash frowned as that thought circled through his head while cooked the food. Sometimes he thought Kwan wasn't even really trying to find someone with the string of terrible women he dated. He could imagine his friend right that moment hanging out at some stupid club and chatting up some airheaded woman that he would probably date once before never calling her again. That thought brought back the memory of what happened earlier in the grocery store. Dash stared grumpily at the numbers marking his forearm. He simply didn't have the time, or the desire, to play the dating game with some random woman that approached him while he was shopping. Walking over the sink, he quickly scrubbed the numbers off his arm.

When he finished cooking, Dash served the food up onto plates that he set onto the table. Then he walked down the hall to the front room from where he could hear laughter. He stood in the doorway, arms folding as he watched Fenton tickling Xander who shrieked with laughter as he squirmed and struggled to escape. Lex had climbed on top of his father, tugging at the man like he could somehow pull his father away from his friend. Dash chuckled to himself at the sight. It was rare for him to see Xander getting along with another adult. Usually, Xander tended to hide behind him whenever some random adult approached to talk to Dash, though he didn't really care for his son to like any of those people anyway.

Fenton must have heard the chuckle because he looked up at Dash. "Dinner ready?" He sat back on his legs, giving Xander the chance to finally catch his breath after laughing so much. Lex slipped down off his father's back.

Dash nodded. "Time to eat, boys." He led the way toward the kitchen.

"What is that?" Lex asked, frowning at the food placed on the table as he climbed into his chair. His nose wrinkled up in a look of mild disgust.

"Dinner," Dash answered simply as he passed out some tortillas onto each of their plates. Lex glared at him, and Dash, in all his maturity, glared right back.

"It's either this," Fenton said as he came to table, placing small glasses of milk in front of where the children sat, "or I could make you some of Grandpa's famous pea soup."

"No!" Lex whined, looking sick at the mere suggestion of having to eat the soup.

"Works every time," Fenton whispered to Dash when a grin. "What do you want to drink?"

"Just water is fine," Dash answered as he took a seat at one end of the table.

"That's Dad's spot." Lex pushed at Dash, trying to shove him off the chair as he pouted.

"Lex, be nice," Fenton said firmly as he gave his son the "Dad Stare." When he glanced toward Dash, Fenton wore an apologetic look. "Sorry. We usually always sit in the same place, so it's sort of a thing. I guess." He shrugged awkwardly.

Dash got up, taking one of the glasses of water from Fenton's hand as he moved to the other end of the table. "I guess I should have asked first. We kind of our own little spots as well." Xander was already reaching across the table to fill up his tortilla with peppers and steak.

"What is this even?" Lex held up the tortilla, turning it around in his hand as he held it away from him.

"Something that's very good." Fenton took the tortilla from his son. After he loaded it with fillings, he rolled it up and offered it to his son. "Give it a try before you decide you hate it."

Lex stared at the rolled up fajita with a glower, like somehow it was offensive to him. Grudgingly, he took the fajita from his father. His gaze drifted to Xander, who already had his own, sloppy, fajita halfway gobbled with juices from the meat dripping down his hands. A frown graced his face, and he remained hesitant, eying the fajita like it might be poisoned. Then he opened his mouth, cramming one end into his mouth. His eyes squeezed shut as he clamped down, tearing off a mouthful of the fajita. There was a brief pause before Lex sat up straight, eyes springing open as he turned to his father.

"Doog yllaer si siht!" Lex said around his mouthful of food.

Dash stared at the boy, the peppers he grabbed for his own fajita slipping through his fingers. He swore Fenton tensed up when he heard his son speak. Fenton laughed awkwardly with a strained note to it.

"Lex, it's rude to speak with your mouth full. No one can understand what you say." It almost looked like a bead of sweat rolled down the side of Fenton's face.

After he swallowed his food, Lex said, "This is really good!" He grinned widely at his father, and Fenton breathed out in relief.

Dash eyed the pair with some suspicion after that odd moment. He decided to let it pass. Lex's words were probably simply unintelligible because he was talking around all the food crammed inside his mouth. That seemed like the most logical explanation. The rest of their meal passed with little incident as they talked about random things while the children happily put together their fajitas to eat, as messily as possible it seemed.

"Daddy, can we watch the movie tonight?" Xander begged when they were finished with dinner and wiping their children clean of the mess on their faces and hands.

"Movie?" Fenton inquired as he glanced toward the blond man.

Dash laughed awkwardly as he turned his head away. "Uh, yeah. It's just a little thing that Xan's pretty obsessed with watching. Of course, it would be up to you. I wouldn't want to expose Lex to anything you'd rather he didn't see."

"Well, as long as it isn't something that's not suitable for children, it should be okay," Fenton said with a small shrug. "But first, the dishes need to get washed." The children whined at that announcement. "You know, you don't have to stay if you have other plans." Fenton's gaze flicked toward the blond man before he got to work on cleaning the dishes.

"No plans." Dash helped with the dishes while their children played a game of tag around the kitchen table. "Since when do you wear glasses?"

Fenton blinked then reached up to touch one side of his glasses. "Oh! I forgot I was even wearing them." He chuckled, shaking his head. "I only really wearing them when I'm working at the computer or reading. I don't need them the rest of time, but sometimes I completely forget I'm wearing them."

"Dork," Dash mumbled quietly, not missing the flush of color that rose to Fenton's cheeks. It wasn't long before the final dish made its way into the washer, and they were free to return to the front room.

"Movie, movie, movie!" Xander chanted, hopping onto the couch with Lex.

"What is this movie anyway?" Fenton asked as Dash grabbed the book bag from the front hall.

Dash flushed with some embarrassment. It seemed silly to admit it to someone that he knew from high school that wasn't Kwan. "Uh, I told him it was called _Inviso-Bill Rescues_." He winced since Fenton, as someone else that came from Amity Park, would know exactly who Inviso-Bill was, though that wasn't the ghost's real name.

"What?" Fenton gawked at him, his hands tightening around the teddy bear that he picked up while trying to clear some space off on the couch for all of them to sit.

"It's just a collection of shots I took back in high school." Dash shrugged as he pulled out the disc from the book bag. "I was going through them one night when Xan came down, and he enjoyed it so much, so I just let him watch it every now and then." He walked over to Fenton's television and popped the disc into the machine. "No worries. There aren't any of the scary fights on here," he said when he caught a hint of worry flashing in Fenton's blue eyes. He turned on the television and joined the rest of them on the couch.


	8. Chapter 8

Dan almost regretted agreeing to a night out with Elle and Valerie. Watching Danny have a heart attack with his old bully Dash in the house was bound to be hours of amusement for him. Even more amusing if he added his own annoying contributions to provoke a reaction out of the younger half of his makeup. Dan crammed his hands into the pockets of his leather jacket as he followed the two women down the street. He still hated having to put on the human disguise whenever he left the house, and wasn't flying off to beat the snot out of some idiot ghost that thought it could threaten the human world.

Before, many years ago, Dan probably wouldn't have cared a whole lot about the activities of other ghosts in the human world. In fact, he would be the one causing most of the destruction. His down fall was when Danny teamed up with Elle, Valerie, _and_ Vlad to fight against him when he escaped from the Thermos. He never would have imagined the team up. While he was trapped inside the Thermos, he obviously couldn't have learned about Danny forming some sort of truce with Valerie and Vlad. In his timeline, Elle never came into existence. Clockwork would never warn him of the combination that would leave him broken on the ground, barely clinging to his afterlife.

But Danny hadn't changed. He still believed in giving people second chances, even someone as twisted up inside as Dan. Whatever Danny saw in him, Dan couldn't see himself. He thought Danny a fool for even allowing him to continue existing in this timeline. The surprising change in him came when Danny introduced him to Lex for the first time. The child was barely a year and a half at the time, but when Lex slapped his little hands against Dan's cheeks and laughed, the broken ghost felt something that he hadn't in a long time. He didn't even think he could feel that way again until those bright blue eyes gazed up at him with no hint of malice and hatred. Lex was too young to even understand those kinds of feelings, but having someone look at him and not see him as a monster right off the bat was something that Dan couldn't even think to describe in words. Despite Danny and Sam's misgivings about allowing him around their son, Dan formed a protective bond toward Lex. He wanted to keep Lex safe from all threats, and should anyone attempt to harm a single hair upon his head, Dan would blast them so hard that they would be found floating thousands of light years beyond their solar system.

"This place looks good," Elle suggested as she stopped before a bar and grill. Her hand remained tightly clasped with Valerie's hand, and while several people they passed looked at the pair of women and sneered at them, neither of them gave those people much noticed.

Dan smirked to himself at that fact. Elle and Valerie were no pushovers when it came to people trying to harass them for one reason or another. Elle was a fairly decent fighter to begin with, but she became even stronger when she started training karate with Valerie. Dan turned his gaze up to the sign displayed over the door of the place reading: Bob's Bar and Grill. He snorted at the name, but it at least didn't look like some overly priced fancy place. He rolled dark blue eyes at that thought, since Valerie and Elle didn't care about going to ritzy places. It didn't matter much to him since he didn't need to eat like humans being that he was fully a ghost.

Dan followed the women into the bar and grill. A cutesy blonde woman greeted them with a fake smile, probably the same one she used for everyone that stepped into the place. The white buttoned up shirt she wore looked a few sizes too small with the way it hugged around her body and displayed her generous chest size. After grabbing a few menus, she led them to a table toward the back nearest the restrooms. There was a surprising amount of customers filling the bar and grill, many single patrons sitting at the bar. Music played in the background, noticeable but not so loud that it would drown out the conversations taking place at every table.

Elle and Valerie sat beside each other with their backs to the bar. Sighing, Dan dropped into one of two remaining chairs. He accepted the menu the woman handed him, ignoring the obvious flirty smile she gave him. As soon as she walked away, Dan dumped the menu in front of the empty seat, having no need for it.

"So how much you want to bet we find the jerk dead by the time we get back there?" Dan questioned as he leaned on one arm on the table.

Valerie rolled her green eyes at him. "Unlike you, Danny has some sense of maturity." She dropped her gaze to the menu in her hands, glancing over what she might want to eat.

"I don't know," Elle said with some uncertainty. "Push the right buttons, and he'll revert back to a child in seconds." Her bright blue eyes darted toward Dan. "As someone so likes to do."

"Not my fault he makes it so easy to get a reaction." Dan smirked with some pride at his ability to get under the man's skin. "And if I recall, things were never all that great between Danny and Dash." He shared some of those memories with Danny, after all, having a part of the other man in him from that other timeline. He knew quite well the sort of harassment Dash used to give Danny on a daily basis in high school, at least in their freshmen year.

"Maybe it wasn't such a good idea to leave them alone." Elle winced, likely imagining how things might escalate between the two men when left to their own devices.

"They wouldn't really be that stupid," Valerie put in with a bit more confidence. "I mean, they have their kids there. They aren't going to start fighting if it might endanger their sons somehow. And Danny certainly won't be dick enough to take a parent away from a child, even if it's Dash." A grim silence fell over them as they all thought about what Danny was dealing with after the loss of Sam.

"Have you all decided on what you'd like?" asked the waitress that came up to their table with a notepad in hand to jot down their order. Her voice sounded way too chipper, and her smile was irritatingly cheery. Her loosely curled red hair was drawn back into a ponytail high upon her head. Her brown eyes lingered on Dan, but he ignored her much like the blonde.

Valerie and Elle took their time ordering, questioning the poor waitress about various elements of different dishes before finally settling on their order. Dan, meanwhile, allowed his gaze to drift around the bar and grill. It was a fairly nice place. Neatly pressed, clean white linen draped the tables with a glass pane placed on top to hold them in place while also minimizing staining if customers dripped anything onto the tables. The lights weren't obscenely bright but weren't so dim as to make the place seem overly dark. The floors were a nice, polished hardwood, and the walls were painted white, except for behind the bar which had a nice wood paneling.

Dan glanced over the people at the bar, noting many of the single people there turned in their seats toward each other chatting as they shared a drink. One man with, obviously bleached, blond hair was talking to a woman in a rather skimpy dress that showed off quite a bit of her cleavage. His hand was on her thigh as they talked, though the woman, her cheeks reddened and probably not simply from embarrassment, didn't seem to object to the placement of his hand.

Dan snorted at their interaction as his eyes moved along the bar. When his gaze landed on the man at the end, he sat up a little straighter in surprise. Being his first time in this city, going someplace other than the grade school to pick up Lex, Dan didn't really know many people here and hardly expected to spy someone he recognized in some random bar and grill. He smirked at the sight of the man leaning on one arm on the bar with a barely touched mug of beer near him. Maybe the beer didn't even belong to the man, simply already sitting there untouched when the man arrived at the bar.

"And anything for you, Sir?" the waitress asked in a bubbly tone.

"No, I'm good." Dan passed the menu to her, and the waitress left to put in their order.

His attention immediately returned to the man at the end of the bar, and he frowned when he noticed a woman took up the spot next to him. She wore a tight tank top and Capri pants that showed off her luscious curves. She leaned toward the man, an action that probably drew a lot of men's eyes straight to her chest with the low neckline of her top. A smile slipped onto her face as she spoke to the man, and she reached out placing a hand on his arm, squeezing around the muscular bicep. She probably used some lame line asking him if he worked out, which was obvious from the way he kept his physique in shape even after high school. Dan's mouth pursed as he watched the two of them talk, feeling some irrational irritation at the sight.

"You all right there, Dan?" Elle asked, distracting the ghost's attention. "You like you just had to sit through twenty-four hours of listening to the Box Ghost ramble on about boxes with the occasional Beware! thrown into the mix." She frowned at him.

"Nope. One moment." Dan stood up and walked around the table, not caring if the two women watched him. He approached the people at the bar, who were quite oblivious to his nearing presence.

"A teacher, huh?" the woman questioned with false interest. "So you're strong _and_ smart." She smiled at him as her eyes gave that little flutter of her lashes that she probably thought turned men into putty in her hands.

Dan wanted to vomit at the sight of the woman's attempt to flirt with the man. "Sorry I'm late, babe," he said, leaning against the bar on the other side of the man. He smirked winningly as the woman scowled at him for interrupting her attempt to seduce the man for the night.

"Dan!" the man gasped in surprise when he turned his head to gape at the ghost.

Dan had to smirk even wider when he noticed the glasses the man wore, and noted somewhere in his head the book laying open in front of him on the bar. Leave it to Kwan to come to a place like this to read. Dan almost chuckled out loud at that thought.

"What are-"

"I hope I didn't keep you waiting too long," Dan cut in before Kwan could finish his stunned question. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see the woman's face twisting up and growing red with anger. She clearly thought she found her prize for the night, and that only served to encourage Dan to take this act a step farther. Without waiting for Kwan to stop spluttering long enough to spit out actual words, the ghost snaked a hand around the man's neck, drawing their heads closer together until their lips met in a crushing kiss. Glass shattered. Dan let his gaze slide toward the woman, whose hand remained in the pose of holding a glass that was no longer there. The shock of seeing the two men kiss made her lose her grip on her drink. Her mouth dropped open wide as she watched them. Dan grinned devilishly into the kiss as his hand fell away from Kwan's neck, skimming over the hard muscle beneath the soft cotton shirt until his hand came to rest on the man's thigh far too closely to where leg met hip.

The woman snapped her mouth shut, her eyes narrowing at him. Then with a hmph, she turned sharply and stormed away, probably to find a new target. When Dan laughed at that reaction, Kwan finally snapped out of his shock. With a hard shove, he pushed the ghost away, glaring darkly at Dan as he swiped at his mouth with the back of his hand.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" Kwan demanded with a rage storming in his aqua green eyes. His cheeks were slightly flushed, and that, admittedly, made Dan want to play some more with the man.

"I would have thought that was obvious," Dan replied with an easy smile, glancing only briefly at the brunet that came to clean up the mess of the spilled drink and shattered glass. "Or should I try that again to let it sink more firmly into your head?" He leaned toward the man, but Kwan slapped a hand to his chest and held him at bay.

"Is this a game to you?" Kwan demanded with a sour look. "What are you expecting to happen? You hit on me a bunch of times until I break down and let you have your wild way with me so you can add another notch to your belt and then you drop me like yesterday's garbage? Or you would prefer to drag me off to the bathroom and pound me against the wall in one of the stalls to avoid the runaround?" His teeth were clenched and his hand twisted around the fabric of Dan's black shirt. The look in the teacher's eyes almost made Dan question if he really had stepped over the line this time."Because I'll tell you right now, I'm not interested in that with you."

"Kwan!" The shout broke the two men out of their little world of staring at each other, Kwan jerking away as he released his hold on Dan's shirt.

"Valerie?" Kwan gaped at the woman as he slid off the chair at the bar. It didn't take half a moment for Valerie to yank the man into a tight embrace. "What are you doing here?" Kwan asked when they pulled back from each other. "Last I heard, you were still living an Amity Park."

"Visiting Danny," Valerie answered, smiling at the man before her.

Dan recalled, with some grumpiness, that there was a time when the two of them dated. He would feel a touch more jealous of the hugging if he didn't already know Valerie was happily in a relationship.

"You should join us for dinner," Valerie suggested eagerly. "I'd love to hear what you've been up to."

When Kwan's gaze slid toward him, Dan offered a smirk that made the man sigh.

"How exactly do the two of you know each other anyway?" Kwan questioned, gathering up his book. The beer that sat next to him went ignored as he followed them to the table where Elle remained sitting.

"He's Danny's cousin. I'm Danny's friend." Valerie shrugged as she dropped into the chair next to Elle again.

Kwan nodded at that answer, deciding it made sense that their connection to Danny would mean they would meet eventually. He frowned when he noted his only option was to take up the seat next to Dan.

"Hey, I thought we got along pretty well yesterday." Dan stared in question at the man as he leaned back in his chair.

Kwan returned the look with a dull glare. "That was before you randomly tried to stick your tongue down my throat." He sat down, placing his book on the corner of the table between him and Valerie.

His smirk turned a bit cocky as Dan leaned toward the man. "You seemed to enjoy it, if the way you responded was any indication." With their faces so close to each other, it was impossible to miss the light coloring upon the teacher's bronze flesh of his cheeks.

"Dan, stop harassing him," Valerie ordered, kicking him under the table as she glared at him. When she turned to her old friend from high school, she gave him a curious look. "But how do you know Dan anyway?"

"He picked Lex up from school yesterday," Kwan answered, glancing only briefly at the waitress that came to deliver Valerie and Elle's orders. "Just water," he told her before the woman could ask if he wanted anything. Once she left, he continued, "Xan was very insistent on having Lex over after school, so they ended up staying for dinner." He glowered at Dan before his attention turned to the other woman occupying the table. "I'm sorry. We haven't met. I'm Kwan."

"Oh, I know you," Elle said with a secretive smile that gained a confused look from the man. "I'm Elle. Danny's other cousin."

Kwan blinked, his eyes darting between Elle and Dan like he was only just noticing the family resemblance between them, and Danny too. Dan grinned at the man, which only served to annoy the teacher.

"I'll give you some advice though," Elle said as she sliced into the six ounce steak she ordered. She waited for the waitress to leave after dropping off Kwan's water before she continued. "If you want this idiot," she tossed a thumb the ghost's way.

"Hey!" Dan protested.

"To stop harassing you, it's best not to react to his taunting," Elle continued, ignoring Dan. "He lives to annoy, and the more you react to him, the more he'll keep doing stupid stuff to provoke you."

"Something Danny's completely failed to learn." Valerie laughed, but they were all in agreement that it was something Danny needed at that moment. "So what do you do now, Kwan?"

"I teach second grade," Kwan answered then lifted his glass to take a sip from his water.

"What?" Valerie gaped at him with her fork raised halfway to her mouth.

"Right?" Dan agreed to her shock with a laugh as he ignored the confusion now gracing Kwan's face. "I had him pegged as doing something techy."

"Why is it so strange that I'm teacher?" Kwan demanded defensively, shooting a glare at the ghost.

Dan shrugged. "You're smart. I just never pictured that you'd be interested in being something like a teacher."

"I still don't see why it's strange. I've always liked kids." Kwan leaned back in his chair as he folded his arms. "I used to have to babysit a lot in my family. So when it came to trying to figure out what to do with my life, teaching kids just seemed like the perfect fit for me."

Dan sat back as the other three started talking like old friends, which for Valerie and Kwan that was true. It was still baffling to him. Kwan was a teacher. Dan didn't give much thought to the jocks from Danny's class after having his timeline erased and being trapped within the Thermos. But he couldn't believe Kwan didn't follow a similar career path that he did from his own timeline. Obviously, this timeline would have its changes, but Dan was fairly certain Kwan still possessed as sharp a mind as in his time. The man that helped complete the Ghost Shield that protected Amity Park from his wrath becoming something as simple as a teacher? Absolutely mindboggling.


	9. Chapter 9

Dash couldn't help watching Fenton throughout the showing of the movie. He half expected some jibes to be tossed his way, teasing remarks about still idolizing a ghost superhero after all these years. But Fenton was oddly quiet the whole time. Xander naturally showed his usual enthusiasm while watching the old clips from Dash's high school days, pointing out his favorite parts. Lex, meanwhile, wore a comically shocked expression with his mouth hanging open as he slapped at his father's arm or leg every so often. Fenton shared looks with his son after those moments that quickly silenced Lex from speaking like it seemed he wanted. Tension was in every muscle of Fenton's body throughout the movie, and Dash had to wonder what that was about.

Fenton's parents, as anyone that came from Amity Park would know, were obsessed with ghosts. Did that have something to do with it? Fenton didn't want his son getting interested in ghosts and following after his parents' footsteps? Dash thought maybe he should start to worry about Xander turning out like Fenton's parents, with the way his son obsessed over the old film clips.

Dash leaned on the railing of the back porch, watching as Fenton sat with Xander in his lap as he pointed out the various constellations that could be seen from the yard. Xander gasped in amazement as Fenton spoke about all the crazy knowledge he knew about stars and space. It was like listening to an encyclopedia on cassette, but Xander seemed to enjoy it. His blue eyed gaze drifted toward the other occupant in the yard. Lex sat on the step of the porch and hugged a soccer ball to his chest as he stared at his father and friend sitting only a few feet away.

"You don't want to join them?" Dash questioned curiously. "They seem like they're having fun."

Lex tilted his head up, his face scrunching up as his eyes narrowed in an expression that clearly read the boy still hated him. Dash sighed, but at least that dislike between them didn't stop Lex from being friends with Xander. "Dad does this every night," Lex murmured as he dropped his gaze back toward his father. His hands squeezed a little tighter around the soccer ball.

Dash lifted an eyebrow at the boy. "He likes space, huh?"

"Duh!" Lex gave him a look like Dash was stupid for not knowing that. "He only wanted to be an aspronot since, like, forever."

Dash glanced back toward Fenton, still wondering how the man ended up with a son that seemed to only know how to act like a brat toward him. Or did Lex simply having a problem with doctors in general? Dash wondered what sort of bad experiences the boy had with doctors to make him so antagonistic toward all of them. He recalled Fenton mentioning that they had visited several other pediatricians before coming to his office.

An uncertain look passed in Lex's eyes before he dropped his gaze to the ball in his hands. "Where," he started in a small voice, sounding shy and awkward for the first time that Dash could remember, "did Xan get his shirt?" He chewed on his lower lip as he glanced curiously up to man standing near him.

The question made Dash frown inwardly as he recalled that strange look that crossed Fenton's face when he first saw Xander, his bright blue eyes lingering on the shirt the boy wore. "I made it." This wasn't high school anymore, and he didn't feel the need to be worried about being laughed at or teased for being able to sew. It was a skill he picked up from his parents, both of whom knew how to stitch up a rip in their clothing whenever needed. His father said that it was something every navy or army man picked up and it shouldn't be considered girly. But that didn't stop Dash from keeping it secret throughout high school.

Lex shifted awkwardly where he sat, twisting the ball in his hands. "Um," he mumbled still in that strangely small voice that didn't fit with the image that Dash had in his head of the boy based on their meetings thus far, "can you make me one?" There was almost a hint of hope in his eyes.

"So you liked the Inviso-Bill movie too?" Dash grinned at the boy.

Lex nodded enthusiastically before remembering who he was talking to and frowned. "I don't think Dad would be happy though." He hunched over the soccer ball. "But why do you call him Inviso-Bill?" He actually pouted, grumpiness in his eyes as he tilted his gaze back up to Dash. "That's not his name."

Dash started to argue that the boy shouldn't know what Inviso-Bill was really called but caught himself. If they lived in Amity Park for any amount of time, chances were that Lex would have heard something about Phantom at some point. "They were still calling him Inviso-Bill when I first started capturing some shots of his fights. I had that whole title sequence done up before it came out that he was really called Phantom, and," he shrugged, "I just never changed that opening part, so when Xan saw it, I just kept with calling him Inviso-Bill."

"That's stupid." Lex stared dully at the man.

"I hope you're not being rude, young man," Fenton said, staring down at his son with a serious dad look as he approached the porch.

Xander hopped up the step and grabbed hold of his father's hand. "Can we have the cookies now?" He stared up with big, pleading blue eyes as he tugged at the hand. "Pwease?"

"I don't know." Dash placed his hands on his hips, and Xander dangled from his arm by the wrist for a moment before finally letting go and dropping to his feet with a pout. "What do you say, Fenton?" He turned to the other man. "Should we let them have something sugary before bed?"

"I think it would be okay," Fenton answered as Lex carried his soccer ball over to the white basket at one end of the porch with the rest of the outdoor toys. "Unless someone was misbehaving." He stared pointedly at his son.

"I wasn't!" Lex argued as they entered the house.

When Fenton glanced his way, Dash shook his head. "It's fine." He walked over to where he hid the box of cookie crisps. "I probably should have changed the title on that, but it's been so long that it kind of felt pointless." He crouched down, ripping open the box and the bag within that contained the cookie crisps. Xander was quick to shove his hand into the box to grab a handful of the treats. "Only two," Dash said with a stern look to his son.

Xander pouted but relinquish his hold on all but two of the crisps. Lex glanced at his father, and when Fenton held up two fingers, the boy pouted but took his share from the box. Dash closed up the box and stored it away behind the white ceramic jars again. They headed back into the front room where the two children sat on the couch, nibbling on their cookie crisps in an attempt to make them last longer.

"Do you want anything?" Fenton asked, lingering by the doorway. "Coffee? Tea? Something to snack on?"

Dash shook his head as he dropped onto couch. "I'm good." Hearing that answer, Fenton walked over to join the rest of them on the couch.

"Are we going to do books tonight?" Lex asked, giving his father's leg a shake.

Fenton released a tired sigh. "Which one do you want?"

Lex tapped at his chin, seeming to debate it for some time. "Greckle the Dragon Rider!" He grinned happily at his choice.

"I love Greckle!" Xander cheered enthusiastically when he heard the familiar book title.

"Of course you do." Dash grinned as he ruffled his son's hair. His gaze followed Fenton as the man got up and approached a bookcase with books placed haphazardly upon the shelves. "He's pretty obsessed with that series."

Fenton pried the requested book from the mass then returned to the couch, taking up a seat between the two children so that they could both see as he read the book. "I'm pretty sure this guy," he poked a finger to his son's forehead, "enjoys them too." He smiled as Lex rubbed at his forehead.

"They're better than some of those other books," Lex mumbled as he sat back, leaning against his father as Fenton opened the book to start reading.

Dash leaned back against the couch as Fenton started reading from the book. He had it pretty much memorized by now as it was one of Xander's favorite books to read before bed. Glancing back toward the bookcase, he noted that Fenton owned pretty much every one of the books in that series. It seemed it was quite the popular series for children. If he recalled correctly, he thought he read something about them considering doing a cartoon based on the stories. Some of the elements in the books reminded him of ghost attacks that occurred in Amity Park back when he was a teenager. It made him wonder if the author of the books came from Amity Park, though he couldn't recall anyone by the name of Michael Barnes.

He only realized that story time was over when the room feel silent. Dash twisted back around on the couch from his inspection of Fenton's bookcase. Fenton had his head tilted to one side as he snored softly. At some point during the reading, Xander climbed into the man's lap and now had his head leaned back against Fenton's chest. Lex had the book in his lap as he flipped the pages, his mouth moving like he was trying to read the words on the pages before turning to the next one.

"I guess we should get these sleepy heads to bed," Dash announced as he stood. "Where are you boys sleeping?"

Lex dumped the book onto the floor with a thud that thankfully didn't wake the two sleeping on the couch. Dash picked up his son as the little blond boy led the way up the stairs to the second floor. He winced when he stepped on a toy in the middle of the hall that squeaked under his foot. Xander stirred in his arms but didn't wake.

"This is my room," Lex said as he stood outside the door to one of the rooms along the hall.

It was a bit of a mess with some toys left out on the floor and clothing spilling over from the partially opened drawers of the dresser. The bed wasn't very big, but with both boys being relatively small, though Lex was bigger and taller than Xander, they would be able to fit on the bed together. Dash laid his son down in the bed, yanking off his shoes and socks.

"All right. Show me your dad's room, and we can get you ready for bed." Dash placed Xander's shoes and socks on top of the dresser before following Lex out of the bedroom.

"Are you staying here?" Lex frowned as he leisurely walked down the hall to another bedroom.

"I thought I would. It is pretty late after all." Dash stared down at the boy curiously after noting which room belonged to Fenton. "Do you prefer I leave?"

"I don't like you," Lex mumbled with his gaze lowered, staring at his feet.

"Well, I knew that already." Dash sighed tiredly. "Come on. Let's get you all cleaned up for bed."

"I can do it myself!" Lex glared at him with a determined look.

Dash held up his hands defensively. "Then off you go." He shooed Lex down the hall to the bathroom, or he hoped with the bathroom.

Lex gave him that look that said he thought the man was an idiot before trotting the opposite way down the hall. "The guest room is at the end of the hall," he said before disappearing into the bathroom.

Dash smirked a little at that. Maybe the boy didn't hate him quite as much as he claimed. Shaking his head, he headed back down the stairs to the front room where Fenton remained peacefully passed out on the couch. When he bent over to pick up the raven haired man, Dash noted, with a frown, the bags under the man's eyes, like Fenton didn't get much sleep for quite some time. His arms slid under the man, lifting Fenton off the couch, and he blinked in surprise at the light weight. It was like Fenton barely weighed a thing. Dash frowned at that fact. It was true the man was fairly thin with deceitfully lanky arms as he definitely had muscle upon him.

Dash chewed on it as he carried Fenton up the stairs. Passing the bathroom, he peeked in to see Lex brushing at his teeth. He continued on his way into Fenton's room and approached the bed to lay the man on it. At some point during the night, Fenton kicked off his shoes. Once the man was on the bed, Fenton immediately rolled over, pressing his face into a pillow as he curled in a ball. Dash snorted at how small the man could make himself look before he drew the blankets up over Fenton.

He was on his way out the door when Dash paused. Walking over to dresser on the far wall, he took a look at the framed photographs sitting out upon it. He wasn't surprised to see pictures from high school with the three friends joined at the hip as always. There was a picture of Manson from the day Lex was born with her cradling the baby in her arms and still wearing the hospital gown. Plenty more pictures showed the happy family doing stuff together. Dash paused at the picture with Fenton and Manson in midair in jumpsuits and smiling like idiots after jumping out of a plane that he could barely see in the background.

Dash shook his head as he left the bedroom. Fenton looked like life was good to him. The bathroom was empty by that time, and Dash made a quick stop to get ready for bed. When he passed the children's room, he peeked in to check on them, finding the two of them curled up around each other and out like a light. A smiled tugged at his mouth seeing that, and he continued down the hall to the guest room. After toeing out of his shoes, he climbed into the bed and collapsed for the night.

Sleep came easily to him, but he was a light sleeper, having Xander and being on call at night. He would be forever thankful to have Kwan as a loyal friend and always ready to step in and watch over his son when he got called in for an emergency. The sounds of feet pattering over the floor snapped him right out of his sleep. Rolling onto his back, Dash stared at the open doorway, expecting his son to scamper into the room and climb into the bed with him. When no one came, he frowned.

Getting out of the bed, Dash walked over to the doorway and peeked around the hall. He spotted the forms of two small children at the door down the hall with Xander behind Lex and rubbing tiredly at his eyes. Turning back into the room, he glanced about until he found the clock sitting on the nightstand and reading that it was three in the morning. He pinched at his nose, wondering what woke the children up this early in the morning. Xander tended to be pretty good about sleeping through the night, hardly ever suffering from nightmares.

"Dad," Lex called in a quiet voice.

"What is it, Lex?" Fenton asked in a groggy voice like he was still half asleep.

"Can't sleep," Lex mumbled, almost too quietly to be heard.

"Come on then." There was a rustle of fabric as Fenton mostly likely pushed down his blankets to allow his son to crawl into bed with him. "You didn't wake Xan up, did you?" Some sternness entered his tired voice.

"I couldn't let him sleep alone," Lex argued as he dragged the asleep on his feet Xander with him into his father's bedroom. Dash crept down the hall and peeked into the room, careful not to be seen by the three occupants. Lex and Xander already climbed into the bed with Fenton, who drew up the covers over all three of them.

"Do I need to tell another bedtime story?" Fenton questioned as he glanced between the two boys. Xander shook his head, looking like he was already drifting back into the realm of dreams.

"No," Lex mumbled as he curled up against his father.

"Good night, you two." Fenton ruffled both their hairs before he settled down with the two boys at his sides.

Dash stared at the image before him. Before Fenton turned up in his office that day, Dash never would have believed the man to be a father, never really giving much thought about that awkward, clumsy teenager from high school. But seeing how he interacted with the two boys, Fenton seemed like he was always meant to be a father. Leaving the doorway, Dash returned to the guest room to collapse, once again, in bed and fall asleep.


	10. Chapter 10

Danny woke to a noise. Reluctantly, his eyes cracked open and glanced around the gray morning light streaming into his bedroom. Exhaustion tugged at him to return to sleep. It was a Sunday and nowhere near eleven yet, which meant it was far too early for him to wake up and actually rejoin the world of the living. With a sigh, he shifted on the bed when it occurred to him that he wasn't the only one sleeping in it. His blue eyes dropped to his sides, and he reached up to scratch his head.

_One_ , he counted the familiar blond head to his left. _Two_ , he noted the raven haired boy to his right. His confusion mounted as he stared at the second boy. He was one hundred percent positive that he only had one child with Sam. After several baffling moments, it finally struck him, the memory of yesterday smacking him in face as he recalled Dash bringing over his son for a sleepover. Danny breathed out in relief to have that mystery cleared up because he didn't need any more trouble with children randomly appearing.

Noise from below reminded him of why he was awake this early in the morning. Danny frowned down at the two boys, dead to the world as they continued to sleep. After a quick glance around his room, he thankfully noted Dash wasn't anywhere around, although that offered another confusing mystery because he couldn't recall the man actually leaving the house. _Wait. Did Dash sleep over?_ he wondered, shock at the thought making him sit up straighter. A trickle of panic crept through him until another sound snapped his attention away from thoughts of Dash. Frowning, he turned invisible then intangible as he slowly sank through bed and floor. He appeared downstairs, landing in the front room. His expression grew sourer when he spied the three people lounging on the couch.

"Are you seriously just now getting in?" Danny demanded, folding his arms as he became visible again.

"This is my time off," Valerie answered with her arms tucked behind her head. She smiled, looking far more relaxed about her life than she did back when they were freshmen in high school. "I deserve to have a few nights off to party."

"Besides, we wanted to give you _plenty_ of time to get reacquainted with your favorite bully." Elle grinned mischievously, and Danny worried she was starting to take after Dan far too much whenever that look crossed her face.

Dan's dark blue eyes swept around the room, and Danny was surprised to see his evil future still masquerading as a human, though if Dash was still in the house, he was relieved that Dan wasn't walking around in his natural ghost appearance with the flaming hair. Danny had _no_ explanation that he could give Dash for that.

"I'm surprised the house is still intact," Dan commented before turning a twisted smirk onto Danny. "I expected to come back to find the place in ruins." He chuckled, shaking his head. "I'm surprised you didn't explode the moment you saw that boy's shirt. Man, that must have been hard for you not to give anything away."

Danny pulled a face, halfway tempted to revert to a child and stick out his tongue at Dan. Or just blast the ghost in the face. "Ha ha," he muttered sarcastically, though he did suffer a panic attack the moment he spotted the black shirt with his familiar logo displayed across the boy's chest. He sighed as he raked a hand through his raven hair. He forgot that Dash was a huge fan boy of Phantom back in high school, and he felt like an imbecile for not remembering that.

The shirt wasn't his only moment of panic. Danny expected some sort of cartoon or children's movie when Dash asked if it was all right for them to watch the movie his son so eagerly requested. Seeing the old clips from his teen years as he fought ghosts brought back a sense of nostalgia, but he kept waiting for Dash to glance between him and the screen and suddenly make the connection between Fenton and Phantom. He always took Dash for an idiot in high school, but the man the jock grew into didn't seem quite as dumb. Chewing on his lip, Danny wondered how long it would be before Dash actually figured out the truth.

His teen years were definitely _not_ something that he wanted Lex seeing. He expected to get questions about his past experiences fighting ghosts, and even how he came by his powers, but he didn't actually want Lex seeing all of his past mistakes displayed on the television screen. Especially not under that awful name of Inviso-Bill. He frowned dryly as he recalled the title sequence that flashed across the screen before the clips started showing.

"We're adults now," Danny explained to Dan, sneering at his evil future. "We know how to behave. And if nothing else, our sons like each other, I'm not about to ruin their friendship because my past with Xan's father wasn't exactly sunshine and puppy dog tails." He rubbed his hands over his tired face. It was far too early for something like this. "I'm going to go make breakfast." He exited the front room, heading for the kitchen.

"I vote for pancakes," Elle called after him.

Danny paused and snapped back around, pinning a glare on her. "The children are still sleeping," he hissed. "So please don't shout."

"I think he was more fun before he became such a dad."

Danny heard Valerie's comment as he walked down the hall to the kitchen. Getting out the things he would need, he shook his head. Elle sounded too much like Lex when they both demanded pancakes for breakfast, and Danny wondered if Elle constantly asked Valerie to make her pancakes in the morning. His mind wandered as he mixed ingredients in a large bowl. Last night went, surprisingly, well. After graduating from Casper High, he didn't give much thought to the people that used to bully him. But the thought that he could actually spend an enjoyable night with the man that enjoyed using him like a punching bag never would have entered his mind. It was strange to talk with the former jock and not have it resort to cruel remarks, name calling, and blows.

A smile came to him when he remembered Xan's enthusiasm when it came to stars and space. Lex didn't have much interest in space unless it involved his father flying him up into the clouds. Danny liked having someone around that actually enjoyed hearing him ramble off all the factoids he knew. His son usually passed out in his lap whenever he got started, but Xan was eager to ask questions and claimed he wanted to become an "aspronaut" so that he could fly through space looking for the dinonauts. Danny chuckled at that, amused by the child's wild imagination. Pausing when an idea struck him, he grinned and got to work on it.

"Pancakes!"

"Oh no! It's the Tyrannosaurus Lex!" Dan cried out in mock terror, and Lex gave a playful roar. "Come here, you little monster." Shrieks of laughter filled the air when, Danny assumed, Dan caught the boy and started tickling him mercilessly.

"Breakfast will be ready soon," Danny called to them as he served some of the finished pancakes onto a large plate. He was in the middle of pouring another pancake into the pan when he felt a tug on his pants. Dropping his gaze, he blinked at the ravened haired boy with his head bowed and his hand still wrapped around the fabric of the man's pants. "What's wrong, Xan? Don't you want to go play with Lex?" Xan pressed his head against Danny, wrapping his arms around the leg.

"So this is where the other little munchkin went," Valerie commented as he entered the kitchen. "Hey there, little guy." Smiling, she crouched down behind Danny.

"I think you're scaring him," Danny said when Xan tightened his arms around his leg and tried to squeeze between the man and the counter to escape from Valerie.

"I'm not Dan," Valerie responded dryly. "I'm great with kids."

"Are you trying to say I'm not good with kids?" Dan demanded as he entered the kitchen, carrying Lex upside down while the boy giggled. Elle trotted in with them, stretching her arms over her head.

"You're great with Lex," Valerie returned. "That's about it."

"Xan likes me. Don't you?" Dan grinned at the boy still trying to hide.

Xan peeked around Danny's leg to stare at the other man as Dan set Lex down on his feet. The blond boy laughed and stumbled before regaining his balance. "You're," Xan said slowly, "okay."

"Okay?" Dan gasped, slapping a hand to his chest like the comment actually stung. "Only okay? I seem to recall you liked all my stories about dinosaurs." He put his hands on his hips as he frowned down at the boy, and Xan actually chuckled in response.

"Everyone go sit at the table, and I'll bring the pancakes over," Danny announced. "Oh, Elle, can you get out plates and stuff?" He turned off the heat on the stove then tossed the last pancake onto the large pile he already had, hoping that would be enough to feed all of them.

"I'll get the syrup!" Lex shouted, already on his way to grab it from where it was kept. Xan reluctantly came out from his hiding spot to climb onto one of the chairs at the table.

Danny picked up the plate and carried it over to the table, setting it in the center so that everyone could reach it. Lex climbed onto his usual chair, which happened to be right next to the one that Xan chose. Danny dropped into his usual seat at the head of the table and frowned when he spotted Dan sitting opposite him. After passing out plates and silverware, Valerie and Elle took the remaining seats across from the two boys.

"Aw," Lex complained as he picked up one of the pancakes to drop onto his plate. "I like when you make the Cujo pancakes." He pouted, poking at the half moon shaped pancake with a fork.

"I do those all the time for you. I thought since Xan is your guest, I'd do something that he liked." Danny grinned proudly at his mix of half moon and star shaped pancakes as everyone took some, except Dan who leaned back in his seat with his arms folded behind his head.

"Someone woke up on the grumpy side of the bed." Dan smirked at the pout Lex sent his way.

Dash stumbled into the kitchen a moment later, hiding a large yawn behind his hand. He paused when he took note of all the people gathered around the kitchen table. His dark blue eyes narrowed when they circled around to Dan. "Do you have any coffee?" he asked as he turned his attention onto the raven haired man sitting closest to him.

Danny tried to respond around his mouthful of syrupy pancake goodness. After swallowing, he stood up as he said, "Yeah, let me get that." He walked over to the counter and searched for his coffee supplies. "Uh, do you want regular or decaf? Probably regular, right? Black?"

"Yeah, or whatever you have is fine." Dash leaned against the counter, standing next to Danny as he got the coffee ready. "Do your cousins and Val always hang out with you?" He stared at the table for a moment before turning to Danny as he lifted an eyebrow curiously.

"Sometimes," Danny answered, rubbing at the back of his neck as he thought about how weird it was for them to be having civil conversations like this. "Elle and Val are just here for the weekend. Val has to get back to work, and she lives out of town. Dan, well, he just likes to tease me at every opportunity."He poured two mugs when the coffee was ready and handed one over to Dash. "Dan, move it. Dash needs to sit and have some breakfast."

Dan rolled his eyes as he vacated the chair and moved to lean against the wall behind where Valerie and Elle sat.

Dash took the empty chair and sipped at his coffee. He blinked when he picked up a pancake. "You made it look like a star?" His gaze turned onto Danny, sitting across from him.

"One of my specialties," Danny answered with a bit of pride in his voice.

"You should see his Cujo ones," Lex said with his mouth half full of food, and he grinned widely.

"Cujo?" Dash repeated as he stared at the blond boy.

Lex swallowed his food before responding. "Yeah! He's a dog, and he can," his bright blue eyes darted toward his father, "um, do dog stuff." He shrank down in his seat as his father frowned at him for mentioning the ghost dog.

"Oh!" Valerie shouted, drawing attention away from that awkward moment. "Guess who we ran into last night."

Danny pondered as he stared at her grinning face. "I'm going to have to guess Kwan."

"What?" The huntress pouted at having it guessed so easily. "You got it just like that?"

"Well, other than Dash, he's the only one I know here." Danny shrugged. "And it obviously had to be someone we both knew, so he was the logical choice."

"Speaking of him though, what's the deal with him?" Dan turned a curious look onto Dash, and Danny was fairly certain that he didn't like it.

"I'm going to need a little more than that." Dash frowned skeptically at the man before shoving a forkful of pancake into his mouth.

"Why's a guy like him teaching them?" Dan tossed a thumb toward the two boys, who were making a mess of their pancakes and getting sticky syrup over their hands and faces.

"What's wrong with him being a teacher?" Dash demanded defensively. "He likes children, and he's smart. Why is it shocking that he would become a teacher?"

"I think we'll take the boys to wash up," Elle suggested, seeing that the boys were mostly playing with their food at that point. The boys groaned before Lex grabbed hold of Xan's hand and dragged the boy out of the kitchen with him, leading the two women are a chase for the boys.

"I just think it's odd when he's smart enough to get a much more satisfying job, with better pay too." Dan dropped into one of the chairs freed up by the two women.

Dash's eyes narrowed at the man. "Why are you so interested in Kwan anyway?"

Dan shrugged, a sneaky smirk tugging at his mouth. "He seems pretty amusing, I guess."

"You," Dash growled, pointing a finger at the irritating man. Then he snapped his glare toward Danny, who jumped at the anger in that gaze. "Tell your _cousin_ to keep away from Kwan."

Danny forced out half a laugh at that demand. "You say that like I have any control over him. Dan doesn't listen to anything I say."

"Of course not." Dan smirked smugly as he leaned back in the chair. "And why should I? I am _older_ than you."

"Huh?" Dash's brow pinched in confusion, and he turned his gaze back onto Dan.

"I'm so getting you a muzzle one of these days." Danny dropped his face into his hands and wished he could get his evil future to shut up every once and a while.

"Okay. But I gotta ask about something," Dan continued, ignoring the former jock's bafflement, and Danny suspected a large part of that was because the ghost saw it as more entertaining to leave Dash out of the loop than to protect their secret, "because he acted kind of weird when I approached him at the bar."

Dash's eyes narrowed in suspicion. "And how did you approach him exactly?"

Dan shrugged with a grin that would make the Cheshire cat jealous. "Oh, nothing out of the ordinary really. There was some floozy trying to flirt with him, so I just scared her off a bit."

"Dan, what did you do?" His mouth pressed thin as Danny narrowed his blue eyes at his evil future, struggling to keep them from flashing green.

"Nothing big. I only kissed him. You act like that's a sin." Dan rolled his eyes, clearly not seeing why anyone would make a big fuss about it. "But then he got all weird and grouchy like something crawled up his butt and died." He turned back to Dash. "So want to fill me in on that?"

"No!" Dash shouted as he shot to his feet. His hands were clenched tight enough that Danny could see them turning white. "And you better keep away from him from now on. I mean it! I don't want to see you anywhere around Kwan. He doesn't need some weirdo like you messing up his life."

"Uh, Dan, maybe you should go," Danny suggested, shaken by the rage Dash displayed, "like _now_."

" _I'm_ the weirdo?" Dan snorted as he stood to leave the room. "You're the one getting all grouchy over a simple question." His footsteps faded as he headed down the hall.

"I'm sorry about that." Danny lowered his gaze, guilt gnawing at his sides. "Dan kind of lacks that whole morality thing that normal people have, so he can act like an insensitive dick a lot of the time." He lifted his head and frowned at the anger still etched into Dash's expression. "Is everything okay though? I mean," he bit his lip, "you got pretty upset there."

Dash huffed out a breath as he collapsed back into the chair. He leaned forward on his elbows, running his hands through his hair. "It's-" He shook his head. "Kwan wouldn't want me to tell you. It's... private."

Danny nodded as he swallowed. There was definitely something that happened with Kwan, but it really wasn't his place to pry into the other man's affairs. "Sorry. I'll try to talk some sense into Dan." He sighed tiredly. "But I can't guarantee that he won't still act like a dick."

"It would be a lot better for everyone if he just _stays away_ from Kwan." Dash shot a dark, meaningful look at Danny, who felt a shiver run down his spine as it was turned on him.

Danny really didn't want to pry into something that wasn't any of his business, but from Dash's reaction, he guessed that it was something bad that happened to Kwan. He struggled to think of something to say. Everything was going so well until Dan had to open his big mouth and ruin everything. Danny sighed tiredly, leaning his head on one hand as he doubted Dan would listen to him if he told the ghost to stop harassing Kwan.

Dash pulled a phone out of his pocket and stared at it. "Ah, I forgot all about that." He scratched a hand through his blond locks. "I should get going." Taking a large gulp from the coffee, he stood up and crammed his phone back into his pocket.

"Oh, uh," Danny said, stunned by the suddenness of that announcement as he sat up straight. "If you want, you can leave Xan here. I mean, I'm sure Lex would enjoy getting to spend some more time playing with him. And I don't mind watching him."

"Oh, uh, thanks, but we've got some stuff to do today," Dash answered awkwardly.

"There you are. All cleaned up," Valerie said as she carried the raven haired boy into the kitchen, balancing him on one hip. "That wasn't so bad, was it?"

"Dad, Dad!" Lex darted into the room and tugged at Danny's arm. "Can Xan stay?" Danny frowned, lifting his gaze toward the former jock.

"Sorry, little man," Dash said as he took Xan from Valerie's arms. "We got to hit the road now."

"Aw," both boys whined, pouting at the blond man, and Danny bit back a smile at their reaction.

"Sorry, but the pouting won't work on me." Dash stared down firmly at Lex, falling right into the trap of a staring contest with the boy.

"Lex, why don't you go grab Xan's things for him?" Danny suggested as he got up, half stepping in the way to block the line of sight for the two of them. Lex sighed dramatically before he sluggishly left the kitchen.

"Now I'm going to have to visit you more often, Danny," Valerie said as they all walked toward the front of the house. "It was great getting to hang out with Kwan again, and maybe next time, we'll have more time to catch up with each other, Dash." She turned a smile on the blond man, and Danny could almost believe that she was never cut from the A list in their freshmen year.

"Yeah, that'd be great," Dash agreed as Lex returned, reluctantly offering the bag to the man. With a roll of his eyes, Dash took the bag from the boy. "You'll get to see each other tomorrow at school."

Xan squirmed in his father's arms until Dash finally set him down on the ground. Once his feet touched the floor, the boy jumped at Lex, hugging his friend tightly. He lifted his head up to Danny before bright blue eyes drifted shyly to the side. "Thanks for letting me sleep over, Mr. Lex's Daddy." A light flush grew across his cheeks at his words. "I had a lot of fun."

"You're welcome over any time you like," Danny told the boy as a smile tugged at his mouth.

Xan grinned happily, gave Lex another quick squeeze, then returned to his father's side, his little hand curling around two of Dash's fingers.

"I guess we'll have to make plans to do this again," Dash said as he walked toward the door. "You've got my number, so," he shrugged a shoulder, "give me a call whenever you want to arrange a play date for them." Xan waved a sad goodbye as Dash opened the door. "Time to go show off some of your art, Picasso." He lifted the boy into his arms as he headed down the walkway to his car.

"Bye!" Lex shouted as he stood in the doorway, waving an arm wildly at the departing pair. Danny didn't miss the frown on his son's face at having his friend leave.

"You are terrible at getting information out of people," Dan grumbled in his ear.

Danny sighed as he closed the door. "I'm not going to force Dash to tell me something about Kwan simply because you're nosy." He glared at his evil future who appeared beside him in his natural ghost form.

"I don't know. I think it's more than nosiness with Dan." Valerie smirked knowingly at the ghost, who made a face at her.

"Dan, I'm serious," Danny said firmly, glaring at the ghost. "I don't want to have to move because you pissed off my son's doctor _and_ his teacher."

"I'm just trying to have some fun," Dan grumped.

"That's what I'm worried about," Danny returned with a frown.


	11. Chapter 11

"I wanted to stay," Xander complained, pouting as Dash strapped him in before he climbed into the driver's seat.

"I know." Dash started the car and pulled away from the curb.

Throwing a quick glance back at the house, he still couldn't believe that he just spent the night at Fenton's house. He hadn't actually planned to stay over for the whole night, but when he realized that two of them were asleep, it felt too late to drive home. It seemed pointless too when he remembered that he would have to drive back early the next morning to pick up his son. He supposed he could have always left Xander with Fenton. It wasn't like he didn't trust the man since Fenton seemed like a complete natural as a father. He didn't trust Fenton's _cousin_ though.

"But you know who we're late to pick up?" Dash grinned as he turned back to his son.

Xander stared, tilting his head. Then big blue eyes blinked as it slowly came to him. When it hit him, he threw his hands in the air. "Yay!"

Dash chuckled at that reaction as he continued driving to their destination. He got strangely comfortable being at Fenton's house that it totally slipped his mind until the text came through on his phone that he promised to pick her up early that morning. Sighing, he wondered again if maybe agreeing to the whole sleepover was a bad idea, but when he thought about how happy Xander was getting to hang out with Lex, that idea fled his mind.

But thinking on Fenton and his son brought up questions. Dash saw pictures of Fenton with Manson when he was in the man's bedroom, but he didn't see any signs of the woman actually living there with them. Manson never showed up, but there was always the possibility that she was merely out of town on business. Dash didn't even know what job Fenton had, and he had even less of an idea what Manson did for work. But he saw no evidence of a woman living in the house, which made Dash frown as he pondered over that.

"I hate this place," Dash muttered as they crept along in the traffic, looking out for the woman that said she would be waiting for him. He smiled in relief when he finally spotted her and managed to pull his car up to the curb. Putting the car in park, he popped the trunk before he hopped out to help her put the luggage in the car.

"You had me waiting for half an hour." She frowned at him, pushing down the handle on her rolling suitcase. Then she hoisted it up and added it to the trunk with the rest of her things.

"Sorry, Paulina." Dash pulled her into a one armed hug and kissed her on the cheek. "I forgot you were flying in today." They climbed into the car, and after buckling her seatbelt, Paulina twisted around in the passenger seat to give Xander a smile.

"How's my favorite little guy?" Paulina asked, catching the boy's foot and giving it a small shake.

"Welcome back, Auntie Lina!" Xander grinned happily at her.

"So, Dash." Paulina turned back to him, lifting one delicate eyebrow at him. "What made you forget? You couldn't possibly have hooked up with someone, because I know you would have told me about that immediately."

Dash rolled his eyes as he finally got the chance to reenter traffic and head away from the airport. "Of course not, though there was a woman that tried to hit on me at the grocery store." He frowned as he remembered that event, which still left a sour taste in his mouth.

"And I bet she was gorgeous." Paulina snorted. "Let me guess. She was blonde and had really big," she held her hands before her chest like she was groping at large breasts. She raised her eyebrows as she waited expectantly for his answer.

"No one's prettier than Auntie Lina," Xander said from the back.

"Someone's going to be a heartbreaker when he's older." Paulina reached back to give the boy's leg a squeeze since she couldn't reach his cheeks. "If you tell all the girls that, they're just going to adore you."

"Nu uh!" Xander pouted. "Only Auntie Lina is pretty."

"I think he's in that phase where he really doesn't want me dating any of the women that hit on me," Dash confessed, though his son had no reason to worry about that point since he wasn't actively looking for someone to bring into his life. He already had enough on his plate with work and raising his son without adding looking for a life partner to the list.

Paulina reached over and patted him on the shoulder. "He'll grow out of that one day." She sighed as she leaned back and tied up her long ebony hair into a sloppy ponytail. "Man, I'm so beat from that trip." She toed out of the high heels she wore and sighed in relief at not having to wear them anymore.

"How long are you going to be in town this time?"

"Hopefully for a good long while," Paulina answered, rubbing at her aching shoulders. "Paris, Milan, London, Tokyo. All nice places to visit, but all the traveling is a nightmare sometimes. Especially when I'm crammed in the middle between two large, stinky men. I don't smell, do I?" She pulled at her jacket and took a sniff as she made a face.

"Like you could ever stink." Dash chuckled at the notion since for as long as he knew her, Paulina always had a vanilla lavender scent to her from some sort of lotion or shampoo she used all the time.

Paulina rolled emerald eyes at him. "It's no wonder you're considered one of the most eligible bachelors." She stared at the passing cars in silence for a while before she turned back to him. "You didn't answer my question. What made you forget?"

"I had a sleepover," Xander answered cheerily, kicking his little legs.

"A sleepover?" Paulina gasped in amazement because it was certainly big news when the boy never went to a sleepover until now. "That must have been very exciting."

Xander nodded his head enthusiastically with his raven hair flopping at the action. "Lex is really cool!"

"Lex? Is that your new friend?"

"Yup!" Xander smiled happily. "He's new. Oh!" His eyes lit up as he turned to his father. "Can Auntie Lina meet him?"

"We just left their house, though somebody," Dash glanced at the review mirror to check on his son, "didn't want to leave. You'll get to see him again tomorrow at school."

"You could have left him there if he still wanted to play," Paulina said. "I'll be here for a while, so I'll have plenty of time to play with my favorite little guy."

"Can we go back then?" Xander pouted, clasping his hands together as he pleaded with his father.

"We'll see. I think we should drop off Paulina's luggage first at least." A sly grin slipped onto his face as he glanced at the woman beside him. "You'll never guess who Xander's little friend's father is."

"I'm too tired for the guessing game, Dash." Paulina sighed dramatically. "Just tell me the answer since you say I'm not going to guess it anyway."

"Wow. Way to take the fun out of it, Paulina," Dash replied dryly. "It's Fenton. He just moved to town, and I was shocked out of my skin when he brought his son to my office for a physical." He shook his head, still hardly believing this new development in his life, but he was happy for it, if only because Xander seemed really happy having the other boy as his friend.

"So your son and Fenton's son are best friends now?" Paulina bit her lower lip, looking like she was trying very hard not to burst out laughing. "Who would have thought that could happen?"

Dash made a face, halfway wanting to revert to a child in response, but he shook his head and sighed. "Well, as long as our sons like each other." He shrugged, focusing his attention back on the road. "Though I guess Fenton really isn't all that bad to hang out with. I mean, he is pretty good with children." His gaze slid toward Paulina for a brief moment as he debated bringing up another topic circling through his head. "It didn't look like Manson was living with him though." His mouth thinned as he continued chewing over that fact. "I mean, Manson is the mother of his child. I can't believe that they wouldn't get married before having children." He raised an eyebrow when he glanced over at Paulina and saw the oddly sad expression on her face. "Okay. What's that look for?"

"Well, um." Paulina sighed as she lowered her head. "Remember when I went back to visit my parents three years ago?"

"Yeah," Dash said, brow knitting as he recalled it. Her father suffered a heart attack, and Paulina went back to Amity Park to see her family and stayed for nearly a month until the doctor said her father would be all right as long as he followed a better diet and watched things like his blood pressure.

"Well," Paulina reached up and tucked a loose strand of ebony hair behind her ear, "it was about a week in, but Sam died. The news didn't really give much in the way of details about what happened to her. I went to the wake. You know, give my condolences to Danny. But I didn't ask him about what happened. It didn't seem," her shoulders hunched up, "like the right thing to ask about." She snapped her head toward him and poked a finger into his bicep. "And you better not go pestering him about it. If he wants to talk about it, let him be the one to bring it up. It's none of our business, and he probably doesn't want to be reminded about what happened. Especially not by you."

"Hey!" Dash protested, feeling offended, but he understood from where Paulina was coming. Why would Fenton want to tell his old high school bully about how his wife and friend died? "I wasn't going to _ask_ him anything. I was just curious." He never heard anything about Manson dying. The only news he really heard from their hometown was about his parents, or Kwan's family, or Paulina's family, and they generally didn't talk about the Manson or the Fenton families. But now he could understand better why Fenton's son reacted the way he did when Jeremy and Vincent were picking on Xander for not having a mother. Dash frowned, feeling bad for the young boy. It must be hard on the boy losing his mother at such a young age, and it certainly couldn't be any easier on Fenton.

"Yeah, well, I know how you are." Paulina gave him a pointed stare. "I just don't want you to harass him with questions. I mean," she twisted around to glance at Xander as he hummed to the music and kicked his legs, "you wouldn't want to ruin Xander's friendship with his new friend, now would you?"

"I get it, Paulina," Dash grounded out. "I'm not going to ask him anything about Manson."

"Good." Paulina nodded, satisfied with his response. "So how is Kwan?"

"Same as always." Dash sighed tiredly. "One disastrous relationship after another."

"Oh, like you're one to talk." Paulina snorted as Dash parked his car in front of her apartment building. "Or have you forgotten that _charming_ woman that ditched out on you after dropping off a little gift for you?"

Dash turned a flat stare onto her. "It's difficult to forget her, _thank you very much_. Though I'm glad she didn't want to stick around." They got out of the car, Dash unbuckling Xander while Paulina started pulling her luggage from the trunk. "I don't even want to think of the mess that would have come about if she wanted to stay in our lives."

"Exactly." Paulina slammed the trunk shut. "So you can't complain too much about Kwan having one bad relationship after another. If it wasn't for what happen with her, you would probably still be bouncing from girl to girl like you did all throughout school."

"You have no room to complain either." Dash helped carry the luggage into the building while Xander raced ahead of them to press the button for the elevator. He stretched his arm, but the button was too high for the short boy. "I seem to recall you dated a lot of jerks in the past."

"Yeah, okay." Paulina lifted Xander up so that he could hit the button for them. "Dating Tyler was definitely a terrible decision. I'm so over dating guys."

"You can't write off every guy just because of a few bad experiences," Dash argued as they stepped into the elevator.

Paulina helped Xander once again so that he could press the button to the floor of her apartment. "I'm not. I'm just writing off all the guys in my line of work." She wore a sour expression as she set Xander back down on his feet. "They're all greedy little drama queens. I don't call John back because I'm swamped with work, and he acts like I'm cheating on him. Chris only cared that I have a pretty face because it made him look good in pictures. Tyler was," she dropped her gaze to Xander, "uh, not nice." She rubbed absently at her left arm that only had the cast removed a week before she left on her trip.

Dash frowned as he placed a hand on her shoulder. He never did like Tyler when Paulina brought him over to the house. The jerk tried to sue him for assault after Dash forcibly kicked him out of the house, though he wanted to do a lot more than that, when Tyler broke Paulina's arm with how roughly he treated her.

"Auntie Lina should come live with us," Xander suggested, breaking up the awkward silence as he grinned brightly at them. "And Uncle Kwan too! And Mr. Lex's Daddy and Lex. Then we can all be one big happy family. And Lex and I can play together every day."

Dash laughed awkwardly at the suggestion. Spending the night in the same house as Fenton was strange, especially waking up and finding a full breakfast table waiting for him. He couldn't even imagine spending the rest of his life in the same house as the man. "Auntie Lina and Uncle Kwan have their own lives," Dash said, trying to be delicate about it. He had told Kwan plenty of times that he was welcome to stay at their house whenever he wanted, but his friend always turned down the offer. Paulina had the same standing offer and she did stay some nights, but she liked having her own place to kick back and relax without having to cater to other people.

"Sorry, little guy." Paulina ruffled his raven hair as the elevator doors slid open. "I need my own place for work. But I'll stay over tonight."

"Yay!" Xander cheered as he skipped out of the elevator and down the hall to Paulina's apartment.

"You didn't argue about Danny moving in," Paulina noted as the two adults followed at a much slower pace. She eyed her friend, lifting one of her eyebrows in question.

"Don't give me that look." Dash scowled at her. "Why would Fenton and I ever want to live in the same house?" He only didn't make mention of that part of his son's suggested living arrangement because he knew Xander would probably start pouting if he flat out rejected the idea of letting his son hang out with his friend every day.

"I wasn't trying to suggest anything." Paulina smirked, humming as she unlocked the door to her apartment.

Dash rolled his eyes, following the other two through the door. Her apartment wasn't very big with a small living room that had a tiny kitchenette attached to it. Her bedroom was a touch smaller than the living area, but she really didn't need a big place when it was only her living there and she took numerous trips throughout the year. As far as he knew, Paulina never brought any of her dates back to her apartment. They stowed the luggage in her bedroom. Then Dash collapsed onto the sofa in the living area. Xander climbed up on it and leaned against his father.

"So you had a lot of fun with your friend last night?" Paulina asked as she joined them, sitting on the other side of the boy.

Xander nodded happily. "Mr. Lex's Daddy knows all," he spread his arms out wide, "about space. Oh!" He turned his head toward his father as he tugged on Dash's sleeve. "Daddy! Daddy! Mr. Lex's Daddy wrote Greckle!" His eyes shone brightly in his excitement.

"What?" Dash responded dumbly, blinking down at his son.

"Lex told me when he came over to our house after school."

"Oh! I knew that," Paulina announced as she jumped to her feet. Dash's eyes followed her as she walked over to a bookshelf. After browsing for a moment, she grabbed one of the books then returned to the sofa. She held it out for Dash to see. "It was a pretty interesting read. But I haven't had a lot of time to look at his other books."

Dash stared at the cover of the book that was covered in a dark greenish swirl with a bright purple door slightly ajar and light spilling through the opening. The text on it read: _Beyond_ by Daniel Fenton. "Do mind if I borrow this?" He took the book from her, now rather curious to know what kind of books Fenton wrote under his own name.

"Sure." Paulina shrugged as she sat down again. Then she clapped her hands together. "Maybe you can get him to sign it for me."

"For some reason, that request is odd." Dash frowned at his friend, thinking it strange that someone from the A list would want the autograph of a loser. With a sigh, he raked a hand through his hair. A lot sure had changed since their high school days.


	12. Chapter 12

Danny stretched his arms over his head as he leaned back in the chair at his desk. His gaze drifted to the clock on the bottom right corner of his computer and sighed when he read that it only noon. "I should probably eat something," he mumbled, realizing only then the gnawing sensation of hunger at his sides. After making sure to save his work before he closed out of his writing program, he stood to leave his office. Betty would kill him if he somehow lost his work and failed to meet the deadline for his next book. Sadly, it wouldn't be his first time having an entire book wiped from his computer, and Betty gave him a huge lecture afterward. Danny shook his head as he walked toward the kitchen. It was a total accident when it happened, and he was busy taking care of Lex, who was still a baby at the time, and somehow, the file simply vanished from his computer. He had to work like crazy to rewrite the entire novel from memory.

Sam wasn't pleased when that happened because Danny basically turned into a shut in, locked up in his office as he worked nearly nonstop on writing. Sam already returned to work at that point and was too busy with a project to stay home and watch over Lex until Danny finished. Luckily, they had their parents and Elle and Dan to babysit their son. Neither of them really felt all that comfortable with Dan being alone with their son at that point, but Danny admitted his evil future surprised him by taking good care of Lex.

Danny halted in the doorway to the kitchen as he lifted an eyebrow. "My house isn't an all you can eat buffet, you know," he said dryly before making his way to the refrigerator and grabbing a leftover tuna melt sandwich he made yesterday.

"Duh," Elle responded with a roll of blue eyes that matched his color exactly. "You're out of mayonnaise though." She wiped a glob of white from her lip then sucked it off her thumb.

Danny brought his sandwich over to the table and sat down to eat. "I thought you went back with Valerie."

"I did." Elle wiped her hands clean on a towel. "But she's busy with work, and I don't have to be back until tomorrow, so I decided to come back and hang out with you."

"Sorry but that's going to be a little boring." Danny took a bite from his sandwich and swallowed before continuing. "I'm trying to actually meet my deadline on time." He started to take another bite when he groaned. "I should start arranging for Lex's birthday party. I should probably give him invitations for the entire class." He frowned as he recalled the reason his son had to stay home for three days last week. He didn't want those two boys coming to the party, but he didn't want to appear rude by singling them out and not inviting them.

"I think Wulf was asking what would be an appropriate gift the other day," Elle said, tilting her head in thought.

Danny cringed. "Crap. I forgot they would want to throw him a party too."

"How could you forget?" Elle laughed as she stood and carried her plate over to the sink. "They only throw him a party every year. It's like a second Christmas truce. No fighting on Lex's birthday."

Danny polished off the rest of the tuna melt. He did know the ghosts liked to have a party for Lex, but it slipped his mind while he was busy with the move then the shock of running into Dash and Kwan. Getting to his feet, he walked over and joined Elle at the sink to wash the plate he used. Thinking about Dash reminded him of the sleepover, which in turn made him recall the movie with which Dash's son seemed to be obsessed. Danny sighed as he put the plates on the drying rack. So far since he moved here, he hadn't come across any ghostly activity, but he couldn't become complacent. He might be on friendly terms with some of his old foes now, but those ghosts were only a small percentage of what made up the entire Ghost Zone. If he had to resume his role as Phantom here, Danny wasn't sure he couldn't count on his old bullies to continue being too stupid to put two and two together. Danny Fenton moved to town and shortly after Danny Phantom made an appearance? He worried Dash would easily make the connection between them.

"Say, Elle," Danny said awkwardly, glancing away as he dried his hands. "Uh, you learned to manipulate your ghost appearance from Vlad, right?" He was on better terms with Vlad now, after they defeated him for the final time and the man agreed to give up on his evil schemes. At least the ones that involved killing Danny's father and stealing his mother. Vlad hadn't found anyone to share his life with, as a romantic partner, but he seemed a lot happier to Danny now that he was more a part of the Fenton family. Vlad still wore that grumpy expression when he was around Jack, but it was no longer filled with rage and hatred. For some reason, Danny felt weird about the idea of going to Vlad for help with this.

Elle gave him a strange look. "Yeah, it actually wasn't really all that hard. Just takes a lot of concentrating on how you want to look and forcing your body to reform in that image." She squinted her eyes as she leaned closer to him. "Why?" she questioned with some suspicion.

"You remember Dash is a big Phantom fan boy, right?" Danny returned that questioning look with a flat stare. Placing a finger to her forehead, he pushed her back several inches so that she wasn't right in his face. "I think it's about time Phantom got a makeover. A fresh look. And hopefully if I'm ever out fighting ghosts and Dash spots me, he won't realize it's me."

"Right." Elle nodded her head as she rolled her eyes. "Strange ghost shows up and starts fighting off all the baddies attacking the town. I'm sure Dash won't put it all together and realize it's Phantom with a new look."

"Well, what do _you_ suggest I do?" Danny demanded as he leaned back against the counter and folded his arms. "If I go out there looking like the usual Phantom, Dash will probably figure it out in a heartbeat, and there goes my whole secret identity." He rubbed at his head, feeling an ache starting to blossom against his skull. Why did he have to move somewhere where he actually knew people?

"If you want to change your look, I'm happy to help. But I doubt you're going to fool him."

"You never know," Danny argued grumpily as he pushed away from the counter. "No one in Amity Park ever figured it out. If I make myself look different enough, Dash might not even make the connection. Let's work on it the lab." He led the way into the basement, flicking on the light before walking down the stairs. His novel could wait a few hours before he returned to finish the final chapter. Then he would have a short, glorious break of not having to stress out over writing.

"It takes a while to master," Elle said as she hopped up to sit on one of the tables. Her fingers hooked around the edge of the table, grabbing the spot between her legs as she leaned forward. Her ebony hair was loose and draping over her bare shoulders with one strap of her pale blue tank top hanging off her shoulder. Her relaxed style of clothing suggested that she probably wasn't planning on going out and seeing the town again today. "I mean, I was able to change my look before mastering it, but it just took longer to get the change to occur."

"You're going to make me feel like a total idiot if I can't manage to do a change to my look at least once today." Danny lowered his eyelids, giving his clone a flat stare. He transformed like normal, the rings of light passing over his body and leaving behind the white haired ghost known as Danny Phantom in the familiar black and white jumpsuit. "Hm," he pondered to himself as he stared at his white gloved hands. "Maybe I should consider a new color scheme. If I stick to just black and white, that kind of makes it pretty obvious. Doesn't it?" Frowning, he lifted his gaze to the woman.

"I think it'll be obvious no matter what." Elle leaned back on her arms. "But it's really up to you. If you like the idea of changing your colors, go for it. But you're forbidden from using purple." She pointed at him as she glared darkly. "I'm purple. You can't have it."

Danny rolled his eyes. "I had no plans to pick purple. I promise." He placed a hand over his chest while raising the other like he was making a solemn oath. As he thought more on changing his color scheme, he grinned. "And if I chose some other color, I could break away from looking like Dan." That certainly seemed like a plus to him.

"Right. So you just need to think of how you want to look. Then you have to actually get a feel of your own energy. Once you do that, it's just a matter of," Elle explained as she made strange hand motions to try and get her point across, "shape it, I guess is the best way to put it."

"I applaud that amazing explanation." Danny clapped slowly.

"Oh, shut up," Elle grumbled. "Would you really want to sit and listen to hours long explanation of how to do this from Vlad?"

"No." Danny put his hands on his hips as he glared off to the side. He went to Vlad for help plenty of times, and it usually came with a long speech that trailed into him staying for hours at the man's castle. It wasn't a _bad_ thing, but it was usually accompanied with a sense of smugness from Vlad, like he was gloating over the fact that Danny needed to come to him for any reason. But it was worse over the past three years whenever he went to talk to Vlad because there was that sympathetic look that would pass through his eyes every time he glanced Danny's way. He guessed he got that kind of look from everyone, but somehow it always made him feel worse when it came from Vlad.

He took a deep breath and focused on an idea for how to change his look. Getting "a feel" of his energy wasn't very easy. His brow pinched, his nose scrunched up, as he searched for it. He never had to _feel_ for his energy before, not like this. Fighting, making energy balls, shooting off ectorays, using his Ghostly Wail. That all seemed to come naturally to him at this point. He didn't need to concentrate on it very hard, though the Wail still drained him quite a bit.

"And half an hour later, nothing."

"Elle!" Danny growled, snapping his glare to her. "You broke my concentration."

"Sorry." Elle held up her hands in defense as she rolled her eyes. "But I thought you would have done something by now."

Danny glowered for a moment longer then returned to focusing on the task. He thought he almost had it before Elle decided to interrupt him. After a few minutes, he felt something, a cool energy pumping through his body. He clung to that sensation, grabbing hold of it and trying to shape it into the image he had in mind to change his look. Sweat gathered upon his brow as he worked the energy. Several long, silent moments passed before he bent over, placing hands on his knees as he panted from the effort and a chill down his spine making him shiver.

"Why is the dipstick looking more dorky than usual?"

The color drained out of his face when Danny heard that familiar voice. He stood up straight, snapping his gaze toward the Portal where he found Ember in her usual attire and flaming blue hair. She had her arms folded as she stood with one hip jutted out and a smirk on her face. Beside her, Tucker bit his lip in an attempt not to laugh at his friend. He still wore his thick framed glasses. Though he had contacts for the past eleven years, he always complained that wearing them hurt his eyes. Since it was his time off, he chose to wear something casual with a leather jacket over his yellow shirt and a loose pair of jeans that wasn't too baggy.

"Tuck!" Danny grinned and walked over to hug his friend. "I didn't think you were coming in yet. You didn't give me your flight details."

"I figured I'd just hop over through the Ghost Zone." Tucker pointed over his shoulder at the Portal. "Your Portal X-Acto is pretty handy. Now if only you could make one that can open back into the real world to exactly where I want to go. If I hadn't ran into Ember, I'd probably still be lost looking for your Portal."

"Yeah, sorry." Danny rubbed at the back of his neck as he frowned. "I haven't quite figured out how to make it do that. Uh," he blinked as he realized something, "how did you travel through the Ghost Zone? The Specter Speeder should still be back with my parents."

"Val hooked me up with some gear," Tucker said, wiping the side of his nose with his thumb as he gave a crooked grin. "Just a suit and speed board so I can travel safely through the Ghost Zone. And, well, an ectoblaster. I gotta protect myself somehow."

"I'm not sure that was wise of her." Danny frowned skeptically at his friend.

"Lighten up!" Ember slapped him hard on the back. "But seriously, what's with this look?" She raised a critical eyebrow as purple painted lips stretched into a frown.

Danny glanced down at his new attire. His jumpsuit was mostly unchanged, but he now wore a white coat over it, the long tails nearly brushing the floor of the laboratory. "I was just testing out how to give myself a new look. This isn't how I plan to look from now on." He scratched at the back of his head. "I haven't really thought of an outfit. The idea only hit me just now."

A gleam flashed through her green eyes. "Makeover, huh?" She smirked, and Danny was certain he didn't like that expression. "You should let me do your hair."

"I don't think you trust her on that," Elle said warily as she eyed the singer. "Last time I let you do my hair, Ember, I wanted to go into hiding for months until it all grew back out again. Plus pink, so not a good look on us."

"You're crazy, Elle. You looked great with that hair." Ember walked over to lean on the table where Elle sat. "Besides, the fans loved it."

Danny didn't miss the roll of Elle's eyes. "Shouldn't you be at home, Ember?" He gave her an inquisitive look. "You know, taking care of your child." Sometimes, he still couldn't believe that Skulker and Ember had a child together. It was more mind boggling to him than discovering that Dash had a son. But he guessed he really couldn't be all that taken by surprised since the two ghosts dated for years before he ever met them, as strange as that always seemed to him.

Ember released a strangled, enraged shout. "Sometimes, I want to beat that stupid tin head of his into scrap metal," she complained, making Danny sigh. He already had to play counselor for Johnny and Kitty. Did he really have to do the same for Skulker and Ember? "He's just so - so _pigheaded_!" Ember continued in a tantrum. "Hunter is still a baby, but Skulker already wants to start teaching all his hunting tricks. I bring up music, and Skulker acts like I've told him he's the worst hunter in the whole Ghost Zone." She rolled her eyes, bitter at the other ghost's reaction.

"Well, you have told him that in the past," Danny reminded.

"Several times as I recall," Tucker added.

"You told him that just last week." Elle reached out and nudged at Ember with a foot.

The ghost fumed, her fiery hair flickering hotly. "So maybe I do!" she shouted, unable to deny it. "But why shouldn't Hunter take after me a little too? Why should Hunter only learn Skulker's skills? I'm the mother!"

Danny tilted his head as he thought about the situation. "But maybe that's the problem. You're the mom. You're always going to have that special connection with your child. Skulker might just want to be able to have some kind of connection with Hunter too. You know, just being able to share something together. So in a way, it's a good thing that he's wanting to teacher Hunter. But it sounds like he's going about it the wrong way when it comes to dealing with you." His mouth thinned because that always seemed to be the problem with them. Skulker always put his big metal foot into the mouth of his stupid tin head.

"Did Sam get angry when you and Lex had your bonding moments?" Tucker asked, ribbing Danny with an elbow.

"A bit, yeah." Danny laughed weakly, recalling how upset Sam got when Lex started showing his powers and Danny started teaching how to fight. He thought she was just against their son fighting, but maybe part of it had to do with Danny and Lex having this part of their lives that she could share in because she had no ghost powers.

"I guess, _maybe_ , you might have a point," Ember grumbled, almost pouting as she glowered at the wall.

"All right!" Danny exhaled dramatically in exasperation. "If it'll cheer you up, you can mess with my hair and help me figure out a new look."

Ember blinked at him before that terrifyingly wicked grin appeared upon her face again. "I've got a great idea!"

"Uh oh. You're in for it now, Danny." Despite the dry comment, Elle looked highly amused at this development. Danny sent a pleading glance to Tucker, who backed up with his hands raised in a clear show that he wasn't getting into the middle of his friend's mess. When Ember started turning his head this way and that way and running her fingers through his hair, Danny had a dreadful feeling that he made a huge mistake allowing her to have any part in his new look.


	13. Chapter 13

Kwan glanced at the clock as Denise read from their book. She stumbled over many of the words, her face turning redder with each fumble and looking like she wished the ground would just open up and swallow her to spare her anymore humiliation. Kwan felt sorry for the poor girl, but none of his students were very good at reading out loud yet. They all stumbled over words they weren't familiar with seeing written out, even if it was a word they heard spoken many times.

"Thank you, Denise," Kwan said, cutting her off as he smiled. Denise sat down, relief washing over her face. "Excellent reading today."

"Yeah, great stuttering," Jeremy said, and Vincent snickered beside him as they slapped hands under their desks. Denise's face turned bright red, nearly matching the brilliant red of her hair, as she sank down in her seat.

"I think she read very well," Lex voiced his opinion in quite a loud voice. He kept his blue eyes staring straight ahead while Jeremy shot a scowl at him.

"What is she, your _girlfriend_?" Jeremy grinned like he just threw out the greatest insult in the book.

Kwan sighed as he stood from his desk. Why was something like girlfriends being brought up by second graders? That pondering left him feeling exhausted, and maybe a bit old. "Jeremy," he said in a icy tone that made the boy snap his head to front of the room, "I've asked you to refrain from saying rude things like that. If you have nothing nice to say, then don't say anything. If I hear you saying something that makes another student feel bad, we _will_ be having a talk with your parents." He caught the dread in Jeremy's eyes, that bead of sweat trailing down his paling cheek as he gulped, and he wondered how long the threat would remain fresh in his mind before the boy reverted to old habits. "It was a very lovely reading, Denise."

The final bell rang at that moment, bringing a cheer from the children as they quickly packed away their things before they left the room. After the stampede out the door, only Xander and Lex remained in the classroom. Xander immediately joined Lex at his desk and pulled out his favorite teddy bear to show the other boy. Kwan chuckled to himself when he saw the teddy bear that Dash made, even sewing it a little jumpsuit that looked like Phantom's costume. He guessed Xander inherited his father's obsession with the ghost hero.

"Ah, you're still here!"

When he heard the voice, Kwan turned toward the doorway of the classroom. His aqua green eyes widened as a smile spread onto his face. "Paulina!" He walked over and hugged the woman. "I didn't realize you were back in town."

"I just got in yesterday." Paulina squeezed her arms around him before pulling out of the embrace. "I was so exhausted though. I went to hang out at Dash's place and practically passed out for hours." She glanced around the room, quickly spotting Xander. "Oh! Is that Lex? They told me Xander made a new friend."

"I think Xander's having a bit of a hero worshiping phase with him," Kwan mumbled to her. "Lex swooped in and punched Jeremy and Vincent when they were picking on Xander, and since then, he's been attached to Lex's side as much as possible. But it's nice to see him having a friend."

"So different from their fathers." Paulina laughed, shaking her head. Her hair was done up in a messy bun with several stray locks hanging loosely from it. The weather was fairly nice out, and she wore a pink tank top under a sheer white jacket. Her mouth pursed in thought at she tilted her head. "I didn't expect him to be blond."

"Well, if I remember right, Mr. Manson was blond, wasn't he?" Kwan placed a hand to his chin, his brow furrowing in deep thought as he tried to recall if that was right. He never really paid attention to what Sam's parents looked like.

"Yeah, I guess that's true," Paulina agreed. "I just I kept thinking he would have the same dark hair as his parents."

"Well, he does have the same blue eyes as Danny." Kwan scratched a hand through his hair.

"Auntie Lina!" Xander latched onto her leg suddenly, and Paulina laughed as she crouched down to give the boy a big hug. "Come meet Lex!" He grabbed hold of her hand the moment she released him and tugged her over to where the other boy sat, watching them silently.

Shaking his head, Kwan packed up his things while Paulina visited with the boys. Normally, he would hang around for an hour or so after school to do some work, but he didn't want to make Paulina stick around at the school. He paused as he glanced over to the three and frowned. He nearly forgot that Lex still needed to be picked up before he could leave. His gaze hesitantly drifted toward the doorway, and he half feared Danny's cousin would make an appearance. After Saturday night, he wasn't sure he really wanted to see that man again. He had some bad vibes when Dan turned up to collect Lex after school on Friday. Then the whole thing that happened at Bob's Bar and Grill left him even more wary of the man. He was relieved Valerie was there, or that situation could have gone a lot worse. He grimaced just thinking about that night. What was that man's problem anyway? What made him think he could just come up to another man and kiss him like that?

"Ah! Uncle Kwan looks scary!" Xander's cry snapped the teacher back to reality. The little raven haired boy was hiding behind Paulina, peeking out from around her with a worried look on his face. Lex, meanwhile, hunched down in his seat, frowning at the man.

"Kwan, are you okay?" Paulina stared at him with concern, and Kwan wondered what sort of expression he wore to make them all worry about him.

"Ah, yeah, I just-"

"Will you stop laughing already?" The angry shout from the hall cut him off, pulling all of their attention to the doorway. Dread crept up Kwan's spine as he swallowed the lump growing in his throat. "It's not funny."

"We told you it was a terrible idea." In a moment the two men stepped into the classroom, Tucker snickering in amusement while Danny tried to tug the knitted hat farther down on his head as a dark blush colored his cheeks. "I mean, seriously, what were you expecting? Every time she has a 'great idea,' it usually means it's something you're going to hate."

"Just - Just stop talking already, Tuck," Danny grumbled with a miserable expression that only made Kwan all the more curious about whom did what to him. But some tension melted out of the teacher when he saw Dan didn't come to get Lex today.

"Uncle T!" Lex darted from his seat and over to the two men.

"Hey, little monster." Tucker crouched down and ruffled the boy's blond hair.

"Hey, Kwan." Danny waved, stepping toward the teacher until his eyes caught something. "And Paulina."

"Paulina?" Tucker snapped his head up to gape at the woman, who stood as Xander hugged an arm around her leg. "Man, it's like A list central over here. If you tell me people like Star and Calvin are living here too, I think my head will explode."

"Star is living somewhere in Texas last I heard," Paulina said as she walked over to where the others were with Xander stumbling along at her side as he eyed the new man with some apprehension. "As for Calvin," she made a face, "I, for one, never cared to know anything about him, so after high school, I didn't keep up with what he was doing."

Tucker's green eyes zeroed in on the boy clinging to her leg. "No way!" He turned to Danny, his eyes growing wide. "That cute little thing really came from Dash?"

"As strange as that seems," Danny answered with an amused smile.

If the two men ever met Xander's mother, Kwan suspected their shock would be a hundred times bigger. He frowned as he turned his gaze onto the boy. It was still surprising that none of that woman sneaked into Xander's personality, but Kwan was thankful that it didn't since Xander was such a kind boy.

"Ah!" Paulina suddenly caught Tucker's hand. "Who's the lucky lady?" She turned her inquisitive emerald eyes up from the golden band around Tucker's ring finger to stare curiously at the man. Kwan blinked in surprise, not even noticing the ring until Paulina pointed it out, but that was Paulina. She tended to notice things like that.

"What?" Danny jumped in surprise, grabbing the hand to take a look at the ring too. "You never told me you were engaged!" Hurt flashed in his blue eyes as he turned them onto his friend.

"That's, uh," Tucker rubbed at the back of his neck as his cheeks darkened slightly, "why I wanted to come see you actually. I was going to tell you tonight."

"Did your 'T.F. for Too Fine' actually work on someone?" Paulina grinned teasingly.

"Do you get what they're talking about?" Xander whispered, tugging at Lex's sleeve, but the blond boy shook his head, just as baffled by the adult's strange conversation.

"Well?" Danny pestered. "Who is she?"

"Uh," Tucker mumbled, glancing at Paulina and Kwan, who wondered why the man seemed afraid to say anything. Or was it simply that he didn't want say in front of the two A lists?

"If you tell me it's Valerie, I think I might faint," Paulina said then frowned. "And be a little disappointed that I didn't hear anything about it."

"I doubt it's Valerie." Kwan grinned, his mind turning back to Saturday night. Or at least the parts when he talked with Valerie. "She seemed pretty cozy with Danny's cousin Elle."

"What?" Paulina gasped in shock, her mouth hanging open after hearing that.

"Uh, yeah." Danny rubbed at one arm as he looked away. "Val and Elle have been in a relationship for quite a few years now." At the hesitancy in Danny's response, Kwan wondered if he thought that two A lists might have a problem with homosexual relationships.

"And she never told me?" Paulina frowned, saddened by that fact. "Well, let her know I'm happy for her. I'm glad she's found someone that makes her happy."

"I think we got side tracked about something," Kwan reminded pointing at Tucker, who immediately began to sweat as all attention turned on him.

A moment of panic flashed through his expression before Tucker sighed out in defeat. "I probably should have spoken to you about this before." He shifted nervously as his green eyes darted toward his friend then away again. "But two weeks ago, I proposed to Jazz." He winced like he was expecting to be punched for what he said. Kwan stared at Danny, watching for the raven haired man's reaction.

Danny blinked in stunned silence, seeming to have trouble understanding what his friend told him. Then the look washed away as he smiled. "That's great, man!" He slapped Tucker on the shoulder. "I didn't even know you were dating. Why didn't either of you tell me anything?"

"We got together three years ago."

Kwan glanced between them as that simple statement seemed to suddenly kill the happy mood in the room. He was obviously missing something when the other adults, Paulina included, frowned and couldn't seem to make eyes with anyone else. It wasn't until his gaze dropped to Lex, who was staring sadly at his father and his hand curling around the fabric of Danny's jeans, that it hit him: three years ago must be when Sam died.

"When are you going to have the wedding?" Paulina asked, trying to draw the conversation back to a happier topic. "I might be able to get you guys a really good deal on a dress."

"We were thinking sometime in the summer. July, maybe." Tucker glanced at Danny. "You're going back in the summer, right?"

Danny nodded, still with that miserably look lingering in his eyes. "Of course. And I'm really happy for you, man." He bumped a fist against his friend's arm as he forced a smile onto his face.

"Good. Because I wouldn't want anyone else for my best man." Tucker grinned. "And I was hoping Lex might agree to being ring bearer."

"What's a ring bearer?" Lex frowned, not understanding anything about what the adults were talking.

"It's a very important job," Danny said as he crouched down in front of his son. "You'll have be very careful not to lose the rings for Jazz and Tuck. We'll have to make sure you have a suit that fits before the wedding."

Kwan felt happy for the couple, but he couldn't ignore the small part of him that was jealous. As much as he liked being a part of Dash's family, helping to take care of Xander, Kwan wanted a family of his own, but so far all his relationships with women turned out to be disasters. Maybe he was simply doomed to be alone, only able to be the unrelated "uncle" to his friends' children. He guessed he wasn't entirely alone in his inability to find someone. His gaze drifted toward Paulina, who looked thrilled at the idea of a wedding. She didn't have the greatest luck with men either. He almost wanted to jokingly suggest to her that they should make a pact to get married if they didn't find someone by the time they were forty, or something. But it seemed kind of sad to be someone's backup plan. While Dash and Paulina were great, Kwan just wanted someone in his life that cared about him beyond simply being friends.

"I need to talk to Kwan about something," Danny said, jerking the teacher back to the conversation. "Do you mind taking Lex to the car?"

"I'll walk with you," Paulina offered as she took Xander's hand and walked out of the classroom with Tucker and Lex. Before they got too far out of range, Kwan could hear Paulina start pestering Tucker about wedding details. If she had chosen a different career, Kwan wouldn't be surprised if Paulina decided on wedding planner. She always liked putting parties together.

"What did you need?" Kwan asked hesitantly as he finished gathering his things. Dan was Danny's cousin, as well Elle, and Valerie sounded like she was pretty tight with Danny. Kwan worried that they would have told Danny something about what happened on Saturday. With the way he reacted, he wouldn't be surprised if Danny thought he was weird.

"Well, Lex's birthday is on the weekend. I thought I should get invitations out soon, but I don't really know any of the kids in the class other than Xander." Danny smiled weakly, like he was embarrassed to have to ask this of the other man.

"Oh, sure." Kwan got out a piece of paper and started copying all the names for Danny. "Though I'll warn you now. You better keep an eye on Jeremy and Vincent. They like to make trouble."

"So that's their names," Danny grumbled. "I'll admit I don't really feel comfortable inviting them, but I figured it would be rude not to. But if they start anything," he frowned, "they won't be staying long."

Kwan nodded. That was reasonable. Dash did that as well for Xander's birthday, inviting the entire class since his son didn't have any close friends among the other students in the same grade. Not until Lex turned up anyway. Dash didn't like having Jeremy and Vincent over, but when Dash and Kwan were both around, the two boys were too scared to try anything under the adults' watchful eyes.

"There was actually something else," Danny said, chewing on his lower lip as he looked away. "It's about Dan."

"Can we not talk about that?" Kwan knew it. He stood up straight, sighing as he handed the list of names to Danny. He knew the whole thing would come out, but he hoped Danny would at least not bring it up in conversation.

"Look. Dan's a dick," Danny stated bluntly. "And sometimes I really hate having him around. I'm not going to defend his actions because the guy seriously has no sense in his head and does whatever he wants. I'll try to keep him away from you, but," he sighed in exhaustion, "Dan really doesn't listen to anything I say. I'm really sorry that he did anything to offend you."

"Hey." Kwan bopped Danny lightly on the head as he laughed, hoping it didn't sound too forced. "I'm not going to hold his actions against you. And whatever." He shrugged. "What happened is in the past. No big deal." His cheery smile faltered somewhat when Danny frowned.

"Dash made it seem like a big deal. It's none of my business though, so I won't ask what happened." Danny continued frowning as he folded up the paper and stuffed it into his pocket. "If Dan starts harassing you again, let me know and I'll kick his butt. And if you don't believe I can," he said hurriedly before Kwan could laugh at his claim, "just know that Valerie will be there to kick his butt too."

Kwan did laugh, but not because he found the statement amusing in its absurdity. Danny didn't exactly look like he was physically capable of beating Dan in a fight with his lean and lanky build while Dan was more on the buff side. "I have no doubts that Valerie could kick his butt." He grinned when he remembered Valerie was a fighter. "And thanks." He patted Danny on the shoulder as they left the classroom. "But I'm capable of taking care of myself, you know." _Most of the time anyway_ , he thought, keeping the grin plastered on his face.


	14. Chapter 14

"I still haven't figured out what to get him."

Dan turned his head to glance at the woman walking beside him down the street. He wasn't the only male that turned his head at the woman. Desiree could draw eyes from a mile away with her curvy body. She adopted a human form, something that many of the ghosts in close relation to Danny learned how to do. Her long ebony hair remained the same with the bangs hanging down to hide one of her now brown eyes. The green skin was replaced with a dark bronze color. After spending more time in the real world, Desiree learned something about modern fashion, dressing at the moment in a crisp, white button up dress shirt that hugged around her body and displayed her generous chest size and a tight black skirt that reached down to an inch or so above the knee. Dan glowered darkly when he caught some of the men they passed eying her chest and practically drooling as they stumbled over their feet.

"Danny isn't going to get upset if you don't get Lex a present," Dan said, shrugging his shoulders as he shoved his hands into the pockets of his jeans. "Well," he tilted his head with a chuckle, "Lex might pout. But I don't think it's something you need to stress about. He'll probably be happy with anything you give him."

Desiree sighed as she threaded her fingers through her hair. "I just want to get him something he'll like. And that's why I need your help." She poked a finger into his bicep.

"And here I thought you actually liked hanging out with me." Dan almost pouted with disappointment. "Well," he scratched at his head in thought, "he's pretty open to anything. If you want to annoy Danny, you could always give him something Phantom related." He laughed loudly enough to draw some attention to them as he recalled that look on Danny's face when he saw the Phantom logo on Xander's shirt.

"Oh, that reminds me." Desiree grinned a bit deviously. "Ember told me Danny was going for a new look."

"You should have seen his hair." Dan wore an amused smirk, thinking back on it. He hadn't expected that when he returned to Danny's house to find his younger half with such a different look. "He really never learns not to let Ember be involved in doing his hair." He would have loved to see people's reaction when they saw Danny's hair, but according to Tucker, his younger half kept his hair safely hidden under a hat when they left the house. The neon green hair to match his bright green eyes in ghost form really wasn't a good look on Danny. Luckily for him, Ember didn't decide to go and shave any part of his head. After whatever Ember used to style his hair washed out, Danny was able to return it to his usual style.

"It's a shame I missed that." Amusement danced in her eyes. "Of course," Desiree continued, grinning as she wiggled her fingers at him. "You could always make a wish."

"I know better than to say those words in front of you." Dan folded his arms, narrowing his dark blue eyes at the woman beside him. He knew all too well how badly a wish granted from the ghost could turn, and Danny would be very angry with him if the wish affected him in any way. When an idea hit him, he snapped his fingers. "We should just on in together on a gift. Then I won't have to give myself a headache trying to think up two gifts." He grinned at his own genius.

"You totally forgot didn't you?" Desiree smirked knowingly, which gained her a glower from the other ghost.

"I remembered," Dan grumbled, snapping his gaze away from her with a frown. They had walked past the busiest section of the street, and the crowd began to thin around them. "I just," he sighed, hanging his head as he scratched absently at his cheek with one finger, "got distracted with something."

Desiree grinned as she leaned toward him. "Oh? Something or _someone_?"

Dan frowned and narrowed his eyes at her. "I regret ever talking to you about anything."

Pulling away from him, Desiree frowned with a finger to her chin as she stared up thoughtfully at the dark sky overhead. "Now that I think about it, you never told me what you did to me in your timeline." Her expression was wary, like she worried about actually getting the answer. "You told about the things you did to the other ghosts, like the Box Ghost and Johnny and Ember. But you've never mentioned me."

Dan rubbed at the back of his neck with a miserable look passing over his face. "After Clockwork, I considered you and the Ghost Writer to be my biggest threats. You both could change everything for me, and I couldn't allow that to happen. So," he frowned, refusing to even look at the female ghost, "I had the Fright Knight attack the two of you, and you both wound up trapped in the Soul Shredder."

Desiree shivered visibly, knowing of the effect that the Soul Shredder had on its victims. "I'm certainly glad I'm not stuck in that timeline." Then she bumped her hip against him. "You could have used our abilities to your advantage. Like, I don't know," she rolled brown eyes as she shrugged her shoulders, "you could have wished for your family and friends to have survived the explosion or that the explosion never happened."

"I wasn't in the frame of mind to think like that." Dan grimaced. His frame of mind at that time was nothing but rage and grief and loneliness and his only way of dealing with it was causing destruction and chaos. Jazz would probably have a field day psycho analyzing him and everything he did. If she had still been alive in that timeline. He frowned as the memory of how his family and friends were killed replayed in his mind. But now that he was in this timeline, he got the chance to reconnect with Jazz. It was easier to do that with her than with their parents since Jazz knew who he was and Danny was still keeping secrets from their parents. That fact always blew his mind away. In his life, he never suspected that Jazz even knew about his half ghost status before the explosion at the Nasty Burger. Maybe if he had known just that small fact, his life could have changed entirely. He sighed and shook his head. His past was unchangeable.

"I said let go!"

At the firm order, they both stopped and followed it to the source. A tall man with a lean figure stood over the woman, bracing an arm against the wall as he loomed over her. He looked like the annoyingly flashy type with his spiked bleached blond hair and tight leather pants and leather jacket. His other hand had a firm hold of the woman's wrist, keeping her from attempting to get away from him.

"Oh shit," Dan muttered when he caught sight of the woman's face.

"What is it?" Desiree glanced at him with confusing marring her pretty face.

"It's Paulina!" Dan frowned when the ghost didn't look any less baffled. "You tried to ruin her quinceañera during that meteor shower with everyone making wishes."

"Oh yeah," Desiree mumbled as the memory came back to her.

"Why are you being such a bitch?" the man demanded as Paulina tried to twist her arm free from his hold. Dan could already see some bruising along her forearm.

"Excuse you!" Desiree shouted as she stumped over to them. "She said to let go." She grabbed at the hand and tried to help pry it free from the other woman.

_Oh boy_ , Dan thought as he followed after her, but he really couldn't blame the wish granting ghost for her response.

"No one asked you to interfere, bitch," the man growled and smacked her hard against the face, the slap of which almost seemed to echo around the street. Desiree hit the ground, holding a hand to her cheek.

"Hey!" Dan shouted, fury boiling through him. He stomped up to the man, preparing to return the favor tenfold, but Paulina beat him to it. While Mr. Pretty Boy was momentarily distracted as he assaulted another woman, Paulina lifted a leg and drove it forward, smashing her foot into the man's crotch. Immediately, the hand released her wrist as the man went down, falling onto his side as he curled into the fetal position, whimpering in pain.

"I did tell you to let go," Paulina said, her voice taking on an icy quality as her emerald eyes narrowed down at her attacker. "And I believe you're in violation of the restraining order I filed against you, Tyler. You're supposed to keep a hundred yards away from me."

"If he can't seem to remember that," Dan said, crouching down in front of the man, "I'm sure I can figure out some way to make sure it sticks for good." He grinned at the cowering fool as sharp fangs revealed themselves and his eyes flashed dangerously red. Horror passed over the blond man's face as he stuttered out incoherently.

"Are you okay?" Paulina asked, and Dan twisted his head around to see her kneeling beside Desiree to check on the damage the slap did to her face. It would probably leave a bruise while she remained in a human disguise, but once she reverted to her natural ghost appearance, it would heal up quickly.

"Yeah, I'll be fine." Desiree allowed the other woman to help her to her feet.

"Listen up, Pretty Boy," Dan said quietly, but no less intimidating, as he returned his attention to the man on the ground before him. "When a girl tells you to let her go, you better do it. If I catch you hurting another woman, I'll make sure you regret it for the rest of your days."

"That bi-"

"I suggest you find a better word to call her," Dan cut off with a fist held close to the man's face. Green flames tickled over his hand, and the man gulped visibly in fear. "I don't care for any excuses you may have. You touch Paulina again, and I'll rip your arm off." He stood, a smile in grim satisfaction ghosting across his face before he turned to the two women. "We should probably get the two of you looked at." He placed his hands on their shoulders, ushering the pair away from the blond man.

"It's really not that bad," Paulina said as she held her bruised arm to her chest like she could hide the evidence of her injury. "I'm more worried about her." She nodded her head toward Desiree, looking concerned for the woman. "That slap sounded like it really hurt."

Desiree gingerly touched her fingers to her cheek and winced. "I'm sure it'll be okay."

Paulina gasped as she halted. They only made it about half a block away from the scene of where she was being assaulted by that jerk. "I don't even know your names! And I didn't even thank you." She glanced away, looking ashamed for her bad manners, which made Dan feel like he was thrown for a loop. From what he experienced in his timeline, the A lists never really treated him all that well. Kwan was the odd exception when he wasn't following orders from the other A lists.

Dan nudged her to keep walking. "Let's not stand around though. We seem to have drawn enough attention after you kicked that dude in his tiny balls." He grinned as that image replayed in his mind.

"I'm Desiree," the female ghost introduced. "And this one with the shit eating grin is Dan."

"Dan?" Paulina repeated as she turned to stare at him, her mouth pursing in thought. "You're not related to Danny Fenton, are you?" She eyed him suspiciously.

"I'm his cousin," Dan answered, dropping his hands from the women's shoulders then shoving them into his pants pockets. "So who was that loser?"

Paulina sighed, rubbing absently at her bruised arm. "My ex Tyler." She scowled as she mentioned his name. "We were hanging out at Dash's house, having a barbeque, and Tyler - Well, he was always a bit rough. But this time-" She shook her head, tossing the long cascade of silky ebony hair. Misery hinted in her eyes. "I was playing with Xander, and Tyler just kept grabbing at me even though I told him to stop. He ended up breaking my arm. Dash literally kicked him out of the house. I got a restraining order against him after that. The broken arm put me out of work for a month. Well, I had a few shoots, but the photographer kept having to position me in a way that hid the cast, and it was all just a big hassle."

"That's awful!" Desiree gave the other woman a sympathetic look as she reached out and place a comforting hand on Paulina's shoulder. "You want us to go back there and hold him down so you can kick him a few more times?"

Paulina laughed but shook her head. "As much as he probably deserves that, I'd rather just stay away from him." She sighed, exhaustion showing in her face.

"What did he want with you?" Dan asked, brow pinching as he frowned in concern. Maybe some of Danny's personality was resurfacing in him, but Dan suspected Tyler wasn't the type of man that let something get away when he wanted it. If he ignored a restraining order, what was to stop Tyler from trying to get at Paulina again? His hands squeezed into tight fists inside his pockets. His experiences with the A lists might not have always been the best, but his younger half was always about protecting people.

"I don't think he ever fully accepted that we broke up." Paulina folded her arms. "No one breaks up with Tyler," she said in a mocking deep voice. "Tyler is the one to break up with girls." She rolled her eyes. "I was working late-"

"Do models usually have photo shoots this late at night?" Desiree blinked in surprise.

"Oh, no." Paulina flushed lightly. "I was working on designs for my own clothing line. I have a designer friend that says he can help get me a showcase at the next big fashion show, but I'm working with a deadline, so I have to get all my designs finalized and sewn up before then. I've been working like crazy on them to make it in time."

"Beautiful model _and_ a fashion designer?" Desiree smiled, impressed by the woman walking with them. Dan admitted he wasn't all that surprised by Paulina's career choice. She was always the prettiest girl at Casper High. It was no stretch of the imagination that she would become a model.

"I know that seems pretty clichéd." Paulina frowned, lowering her gaze. "The pretty girl becomes a model. But I've always loved fashion, and I've been doodling design ideas ever since I was preteen. A lot of those weren't that great, but I've gotten a lot better. And I've gotten to meet a lot of other fashion designers, who have taught me a lot about the industry."

"If it's something you're passionate about, you shouldn't feel bad about being a model. If anyone thinks that being pretty is all you are, they need a hard dose of reality to slap them in the face." Desiree frowned, and Dan knew where she was coming from with her rant. Simply walking down the street, Desiree only got attention for being beautiful. Dan doubted any of the men that stopped to stare at her actually thought there was anything to her beyond her physical appearance. "Don't let people make you feel bad just because you're pretty."

"I guess you get a lot of that too," Paulina said, wincing.

Dan pondered. Dash wasn't likely to give him any answers. While the man got along well during their night out at Bob's Bar and Grill, Kwan probably wouldn't want to talk to Dan, alone, without someone else to distract his attention. Dan frowned as he revisited that night in his head. Kwan was nice and friendly with Valerie and Elle, but his tone immediately became cold and standoffish whenever he spoke to Dan.

"Say, Paulina," Dan said, drawing the woman's attention from the chat she was holding with Desiree. "You're still pretty close with Kwan, right?"

"Of course." Paulina's brow furrowed as she eyed him with some suspicion. "Why?"

"Well, I ran into him the other night," Dan explained, wondering if word of Saturday night already made its way to the woman, "and I think I may have gotten off on the wrong foot with him. Is there anything about his past that you could tell me about why he might react badly to me?"

"What I know," Paulina placed her hands on her hips as she landed him with a glare, "I'm not telling you. If you want to know something about Kwan, you're going to have to ask him yourself."

"Che." Dan folded his arms as he turned his head away. So Paulina and Dash were going to force him to confront Kwan head on to find his answers. His dark blue eyes narrowed. He doubted Kwan would tell him anything if he asked right out about that reaction to the kiss.


	15. Chapter 15

Dash stared at the invitation that his son brought home from school. It was on a simple white card with balloons decorating the border and party hats in the bottom right corner. Fenton's son's birthday was on Saturday, and Fenton would be holding a party at two in the afternoon. His mouth thinned as he turned his gaze onto his son. Having the party on Saturday didn't leave him with much time to go present shopping with his son. They were limited to the evenings after he got off from work.

"Well, little guy," Dash said as he placed his hands on his hips. "What do you think you want to get your friend for his birthday?" He didn't know a whole lot about Lex's interests, though he seemed to like sports and the same books that Xander did.

"Um," Xander mumbled in thought, pushing a finger against his lower lip as his blue eyes stared up toward the ceiling of the toy store. He frowned as his brow pinched in deep thought, obviously having some trouble thinking of something to get his friend. "What do you think would be best?"

"I think it's fine as long as you get him something you think he'll like," Dash offered, wanting to allow Xander to choose a present without his help. "What kind of things does Lex like?" The young blond boy seemed pretty interested when he saw the "Inviso-Bill" clips, even asking if Dash would make him a shirt like the one he made for Xander. _I should do that_ , he realized with a mental note to put together the Phantom shirt for Lex. He could include that as part of Xander's gift to him.

"Well," Xander clapped his hands together, his fingers almost lacing together as he pondered some more, "he seems to like sports." He chewed on his lip.

"Do you want to play sports too?" Dash raised his brows in surprise. His son never really expressed any interest in sports.

Xander bowed his head as he dug at the floor with foot. "I want to play with him, so if he likes sports, I want to be able to talk to him about them."

"I'm sure Lex won't mind if you're not interested in sports. You'll have other things to talk about, so you don't have to feel forced to play sports just because he does." Dash didn't want his son feeling pressured into sports. While he had a good relationship with his own father, he often felt that pressure, like if he didn't play and succeed in sports, then it would bring disappointment to his father.

"But," Xander tilted his head to one side as he gazed up at his father, "how will I know if I like them if I've never played?"

Dash opened his mouth then chuckled. "All right, my little Einstein." He ruffled the mop of raven hair. "If you want to play, I'll sign you up." When Xander grinned widely, Dash couldn't stop from smiling back. "Do you want to get him, um-" His mouth pursed in thought as he recalled what sort of sports items Fenton had for his son. Lex had a soccer ball that he seemed to enjoy playing with during the sleepover. He also had a football and a baseball with some mitts and a bat and a basketball with one of those child sized hoops on the back porch. What else would Lex need in the sports department?

"Oh!" Xander bounced on the balls of his feet as he raised his hand in the air. "Did Mr. Lex's Daddy play sports with you?"

Dash stopped himself from laughing at the prospect of Fenton playing football. "Ah, no." He shook his head. "Lex's dad wasn't really into playing sports."

"Oh." The happiness melted away as Xander pouted, lowering his arm. "I thought maybe we could find a jersey with Mr. Lex's Daddy's number on it."

"How about some kind of toy?" Dash glanced around the aisle that was filled with action figures and Legos and building blocks. "Maybe a Spiderman action figure? You two could play superheroes. You already have an Iron Man and a Captain America."

"They don't have Inviso-Bill though." Xander walked sadly down the aisle, his fingers skimming over the packages of various toys as he walked.

Dash checked the time on his watch and sighed. It was starting to get pretty late, and he should be getting Xander to bed soon. "He'll probably be happy with anything you choose. If you can't think of something right now, we can come back tomorrow." They already stood around in the toy store for a good hour with Xander struggling to come up with something to get Lex for his birthday.

"Oh!" Xander trotted down the aisle, almost stumbling over his feet. "What about this?" Turning back to his father, he pointed at the packaging of what caught his eye.

Dash walked over to join his son and see what Xander thought would make a good present. "A super soaker?" He scratched at his head, wondering how Fenton would react to that kind of present. At least it wouldn't be something that made a terrible racket, and the weather was turning warmer, so the soakers would offer the boys a good way to cool off in the sun when they played together. "Are you sure that's what you want to get him?"

"Yup!" Xander nodded with an eager grin.

"All right then," Dash said in defeat. But he was glad that they managed to find something before they had to leave. He picked up two of the super soakers from the shelf and carried them toward the check out where a bored looking twenty something sat staring at the clock like she was counting the minutes until her shift ended.

"Hello," the woman greeted, standing up straighter and more alert when Dash approached her. She offered him a friendly smile, pushing back a lock of dyed red hair behind her ear. "Did you find everything all right?"

Dash glanced down at his son as Xander pushed against his leg. "Yeah, took a while, but we found something." He placed the super soakers on the counter for the woman to ring up.

"I heard these are the really good models," the woman said as she scanned the bar codes. "You and your adorable son will have lots of fun playing with them." She leaned over the counter to smile at the boy while his father got out a credit card to pay for the items. "How old are you, big guy?"

"Daddy says I shouldn't talk with strangers." Xander frowned at the woman as he clutched at his father's leg.

"That's very good advice."

"Here," Dash said sharply as he held the credit card out right in front of her face. Sighing internally, he wondered why he had to deal with this kind of thing on simple outings with his son. Xander didn't like when strange women started chatting with them, especially the ones that seemed to be flirting with him. Sometimes he wished it was easier to find someone that his son might like, as someone to become a permanent part of their lives, but for now, he was content to have it be just him and Xander with Kwan and Paulina helping him.

Disappointment flashed across the woman's face as she slid the credit card through the machine before passing it back to Dash. After she bagged the super soakers and stuffed the receipt into a bag, Dash thanked her then picked up the bags. Xander tagged along behind his father as they headed toward the exit of the store, and Dash was thankful to get out of there. At this late hour, the store was fairly empty, allowing them to browse through the available toys and games without having to wade through a throng of noisy children all screaming and crying for their parents to buy them things.

"I can't believe this," a woman grumbled, nearly running right into Dash as they were leaving the store. She frowned, her horribly bright red lips thinning as her green eyes narrowed at him. "Well, if it isn't Mr. Baxter." She folded her arms, an action that helped to accentuate the size of her chest. Her strawberry blonde hair was tied back in a irritatingly neat bun without even a single strand out of place. "Buying a present for that new kid too? Nice of his parents to give us such short notice about the party. How are we even supposed to know what this kid likes?"

"Considering he recently moved to town, I'm sure he had a lot of things on his mind with getting his home in order and getting everything that he needed to do for transferring his son to a new school," Dash pointed out, wondering why he had to run into this woman of all people at a time like this.

"That hardly seems like a proper excuse." She sniffed, and that superiority grated on Dash's nerves. Her eyes dropped toward Xander clinging to Dash's leg at the moment. "You brought him with you?" She lifted an eyebrow at Dash, like she considered him a fool for taking his son to the toy store while looking for a birthday present. "I had to get Cindy to come over last minute to watch Jeremy. I didn't need him begging me to buy him more toys every minute. I'll just grab something random off the shelf. I don't want to waste my time getting some random kid a present."

Sometimes, it was a real mystery to Dash that any man chose to marry this woman and that she decided to keep her child when she got pregnant. She never seemed overly fond of children, and Dash wasn't surprised that her son acted like a rude, unruly brat all of the time. As many times as Kwan probably threatened to have words with Jeremy's parents about his behavior, Dash doubted that this woman would take the criticism well and would probably disregard everything Kwan told her.

"Well, I guess I shouldn't keep you then, Mrs. Duvall." Dash stepped around her to leave the store then paused to turn back to her. "Oh, and I believe you should feel lucky that anyone invites your son to their children's parties. Because Vincent is probably the only one that likes Jeremy, but he hardly counts when he's just a sheep attaching himself to the big bad bully of the class to avoid being harassed by Jeremy as well."

"I - You - _How dare you_!" Mrs. Duvall shrieked at him, rage burning in her green eyes. "You think you have the right to lecture me about _my_ son?"

"I'm just pointing out the truth." Dash shrugged, not caring how upset the woman got over his comments. "Go ahead and talk to the other parents. The only reason any of them invite your son to their children's birthday parties is to avoid being rude by making Jeremy the only one excluded from the class." He adjusted the bags and grabbed hold of Xander's hand, pulling his son along as he left the store and walked through the mall, leaving Mrs. Duvall behind to fume. Smugness washed over him after having told her off, but Dash felt a little worried it would come back to bite him if the woman decided she wanted to make his life hell. Mrs. Duvall was fairly wealthy, and she held a lot of influence with the school.

"Daddy?" Xander asked once they reached the car in the mall's parking lot.

Dash put the bags into the trunk of the car then glanced at his son as he closed the trunk. "What is it?"

"Um, I-" Xander chewed on his lower lip as he twisted the hem of his navy blue shirt. "I want to make Lex something special."

"Something special?" Dash repeated as he opened the door and helped his son into the car. "I think I can help you with that." He buckled his son in as Xander grinned happily. Walking around the car, he climbed into the driver's seat and started the car. "Do you have anything in mind?"

"Um." Xander frowned, tilting his head back to stare up at the ceiling of the car as he pondered. "I don't know." He pouted at his indecision.

"Well, you've still got some time to decide on something." Dash smiled encouragingly at his son as they left the mall parking lot to head home. "But I think when we get home, you'll be heading straight to bed." He glanced into the rear view mirror and caught his son opening his mouth wide in a yawn. Xander then rubbed tiredly at his eyes with tiny fists. Once he put Xander to bed, Dash could get back to reading that book Paulina let him borrow. He only managed to read a chapter of the book so far, but it was fairly interesting about a young boy stumbling onto a doorway to another world. It didn't surprise him that Fenton would write something that included ghosts. With his parents being the town crazies that always talked about ghosts before they became an everyday thing in Amity Park, Fenton had a lot of insight into ghosts. Checking the rear view mirror again, Dash chuckled when he saw that Xander was already asleep with his head drooping down against his chest.


	16. Chapter 16

"I still can't believe you never told me anything," Danny complained, still in shock even though the news came to him several days ago. "How could you and Jazz both stay silent about this? For _three years_?"

Tucker chuckled awkwardly as he rubbed at the back of his neck. "It all started kind of suddenly. It was," he frowned, lowering his gaze to the floor, "two months after Sam's death, and we both still grieving about it. We kind of, well," his cheeks darkened as he remembered how things went, "drank quite a bit. When we woke up, we were in bed together."

"I don't want those details!" Danny rubbed at his forehead. He was happy that his sister found someone and that his best friend was getting married. The fact that they were marrying each other was mind blowing, but Danny was happy for them. He really didn't want to hear anything about his sister sleeping with someone though. That was simply too much for his mind to handle.

"I wasn't going to give you a detailed explanation of what happened." Tucker nudged him in the ribs with a laugh. "Well, I don't really recall much about what we _did_ do that night. I mean, we were both pretty drunk, and I guess one thing led to another. We might not have actually gone all the way that time. Anyway, we both decided it was probably a mistake, and we should make sure something like that never happened again."

"Except that it did?" Danny offered, frowning at his friend. The idea that his sister and best friend hooked up because of one drunken night was somewhat unsettling to him.

"Oh yeah," Tucker answered, grinning, and Danny was positive he didn't want to know the thoughts going through the techno geek's mind at that moment. "I always liked Jazz. I mean, it wasn't that same kind of infatuated crush like I had on Paulina and Valerie where I was pretty much just attracted to their looks. Jazz was always pretty and smart, but back when we fourteen, she was just like an older sister to all of us. I didn't really think about her fully in that way, I guess. Not really. I mean, she was there, but I always kind of wrote her off because I didn't think she'd ever be interested in her younger brother's friend. Am I making any sense with this?" He laughed, shaking his head.

"Uh, I think I'm follow you," Danny said, though the rambling was sort of circling in his head.

"Right. Uh, anyway, I guess it was more toward the end of sophomore year, before Jazz's graduation, that I really started seeing her as an attractive woman, but it seemed a little too late then since she would be heading off to college." Tucker shrugged. "I guess what I'm trying to say is, when that happened, I thought maybe I did have a chance with her. And when I kept thinking about it weeks down the line, I didn't want to forget about it. I didn't want it to be just some mistaken drunken night. So I got in contact with Jazz, and well, we talked for a while. Jazz still wasn't certain about the whole thing. I think there was some guilt about it. I mean, we got together that night because we were both still sad about what happened to Sam. But I urged her to at least give us a try. If we dated for a while, and things didn't work out, we'd go our separate ways and forget about what happened. But at least we'd know if there was anything real between us. I didn't want to give up that chance."

"Dude, I couldn't be happier for the two of you." Danny slapped a hand to Tucker's back. "But you two could have told me about this. Why all the secrecy?"

"I guess we didn't want to jinx it." Tucker winced, hunching up his shoulders. "Then it kind of became exciting, you know, having a secret romance going on. Sharing glances right under people's noses."

They reached the bottom of the stairs, and Danny headed over to the storage unit set up along one wall of the basement. "Secret romance? Sneaking around?" Danny chuckled as he opened the storage unit. "I never got that. Probably because everyone thought Sam and I were a couple long before we ever started dating."

"Well, it seemed obvious to anyone looking at the two of you that you liked each other." With a grin, Tucker leaned against the wall. "You two were just pathetically slow in realizing your own feelings."

"The kettle says hello, pot." Danny shot a look at Tucker, frowning at his friend. "Look how long it took you to realize you had feelings for Jazz. You can't tell me Sam and I were slow when it took you even longer to start dating Jazz."

Tucker opened his mouth and paused. "Okay. Maybe you have a point there."

Danny grinned smugly before dropping his gaze to the storage unit. "Oh man," he groaned, scratching a hand through his thankfully back to its normal raven colored hair. "I'm short on a few ingredients."

Tucker moved away from the wall and glanced into the storage unit. "Lex still gets those cravings?" He raised his brows curiously at Danny.

"Lunch Box still has them too. I mean, other ghosts eat as well," Danny answered with a shrug. "I only get those hunger pains if I expel too much energy in a fight, but I can mostly get by just stuffing my face with regular food. Lex, however, needs to feed on some ectoplasm when he gets that kind of hunger." He sighed as he closed the storage unit. "Since the ghosts want to come have a party for Lex, I thought I should make a ectoplasm cake as well."

Tucker nodded then laughed. "Just don't get the cakes mixed up."

"Ha ha." Danny scowled at him, but Tucker did make a good point. He dreaded to think how the party would go tomorrow if he accidentally served the cake meant for the ghosts to Lex's class. "I'm going to head into the Ghost Zone and pick up what I need." He transformed as he walked over to the Portal.

"Still testing new looks?"

Danny twisted around and frowned when he saw Tucker biting back a laugh. When he glanced down at his outfit, his mouth pursed at the icy blue accents to the white jumpsuit he wore with a hard chest plate and fingerless gloves. "No good then?" He sighed, shoulders slumping. "This is going to take me forever to come up with something."

"Well, you never really had the greatest fashion sense." Tucker snickered at the scowl twisting upon his friend's face. "But aren't you forget something?" He tapped at his watch.

Danny blinked bright green eyes as he pondered what his friend meant. "Oh! School's going to be over soon." He smacked a hand to his forehead.

"Hey, I can go pick up Lex," Tucker offered, already making his way toward the stairs out of the laboratory.

"You're just hoping Paulina will be there again." Danny laughed, but he knew Tucker was over his crush on Paulina.

"Well, I passed on some of those ideas to Jazz." Tucker flushed lightly as he scratched absently at one cheek. "Jazz wants me to talk some more with Paulina about wedding plans."

"Paulina planning the wedding for my sister and best friend," Danny mumbled, shaking his head with a grin. "That I certainly never could have imagined."'

"Yeah, I'm pretty shocked too. I never thought I'd have an actual conversation with Paulina."

"At least not without drooling over her?" Danny teased as he opened the Portal.

Tucker flushed darkly at that comment. "She was beautiful," he argued. "And you weren't exactly innocent in not drool over her too." He narrowed his green eyes at his friend. "Anyway," he shrugged, shoving hands into the pockets of his jeans, "she's more than just a pretty face. And I'm not just saying that to defend her. She went to college before getting a modeling contract, and she got good marks in all her classes before graduating."

"I wasn't trying to imply that I didn't think she was smart." Danny frowned. "Are you sure you won't get lost going to the school?"

"I think I can navigate my way around."

"Says the guy that got lost on his way to my Portal," Danny returned with a teasing grin.

"Oh, just go already." Tucker gave his friend a shove, pushing him through the swirl of green and into the Ghost Zone.

Danny sighed as he floated before the Portal back into the real world. He trusted Tucker with his son, of course, but his friend hadn't wandered around the new town all that much since his arrival on Monday. Whenever he did go out, Tucker was with Danny, who did all the driving, so he might not have paid attention to the directions. Danny shook his head. Tucker had his cell number, so if he _did_ get lost, he could always call him.

Turning around, Danny floated through the Ghost Zone. By now, the swirling green environment was familiar to him, though with a vastness of the Ghost Zone, there was still plenty of unexplored sections that he never visited. He tended to keep to the areas he knew, like Clockwork's Tower, Skulker's Island, and the Realm of the Far Frozen. He avoided going anywhere in the vicinity of Walker's Prison. Now that he was on better terms with the ghost, Danny liked visiting the Ghost Writer's Library from time to time. The Ghost Writer's collection of books always amazed Danny, and he enjoyed browsing through them and chatting with the Ghost Writer about them. He occasionally went to see Dora in what was now her kingdom ever since the defeat of her brother Aragon. Everything seemed to be progressing quite well for what used to be a medieval kingdom. It still had that ancient feel to it, but now the ghosts that lived there were able to leave and explore the rest of the Ghost Zone and learn about the advances the real world made over the years.

But today he wasn't paying a visit to any of his old foes. Danny flew straight for what became a very familiar place to him after the birth of his son. Before he discovered the hunger that ghosts born from two ghosts, or at least someone with ectoplasm merged into their DNA, Danny never would have noticed the floating island with a farm on it. Thinking back on his ventures into the Ghost Zone, he recalled times where he saw ghosts eating, but at that time, he never stopped to think of where that food came from, unless they were dinning on the bodies of their fallen opponents, which sent a shiver through him about which to think.

Something tickled his senses, and Danny paused in the middle of his flight. Twisting around, he spied the net flying at him. He drew his body into a ball as the glowing green net closed around him.

"Ha! Caught you, whelp!"

"Think again, Skulker." Danny smirked, appearing several feet beyond the net. "My ice shadow ninjutsu can't be beaten." He struck an overly dramatized pose that he saw in one of the ninja movies he watched with Tucker.

"Seems you've picked up some new skills, ghost child." Skulker retracted the net then blasted the ice figurine that he captured instead of the half ghost. Shards of ice rained down through the Ghost Zone, glittering specks that soon faded as they were swallowed by the dark, eerie surroundings. "And apparently, you've adopted some bizarre attire too."

Danny sighed, shoulders drooping. "Okay. I get it. This is definitely not a keeper. But at least my hair isn't that awful neon green anymore." He shuddered, remembering how that looked on him. It didn't help that Tucker, Elle, and Dan were highly amused by what Ember did to his hair, though the singer wasn't happy to have her worked laughed at by them.

"Foolish child, you should have known better." Skulker smirked as he folded his arms.

"So I've been told. Like a hundred times now." Danny rolled green eyes then he lifted an eyebrow at the metal suited ghost before him. "Not watching Hunter today?"

"After her little visit you," Skulker narrowed his eyes, "Ember decided we needed to have a chat about how to raise Hunter. So from now on, we're alternating days. Ember will teach Hunter her skills one day, and I'll teach Hunter my skills the next day."

"Sounds like a winning plan." Danny grimaced as he listened to Skulker. "You know, Hunter isn't even a full year old yet. Shouldn't you, I don't know, wait until Hunter is a few years older before starting the training?"

"You're not very well versed in the ways of ghosts, whelp," Skulker said dryly. "Do you think the Box Ghost and Lunch Lady waited years before starting to teach Box Lunch the skills she would need to survive within the Ghost Zone? You might have the leisure of taking your time training your child how to fight, but we of the Ghost Zone don't get that luxury. You should know how dangerous it can be in here with ghosts fighting each other. Hunter needs to be prepared in case the worst case scenario should arise."

"Okay." Danny sighed as he rubbed at his neck. "Maybe I wasn't thinking about how living in the Ghost Zone would affect how parents raise their children."

"Not surprising. You are only half ghost after all." Skulker's smirk held an air of superiority.

"Were you heading to Jedidiah''s farm too?" Danny floated off toward the farm again with the hunter flying beside him.

Skulker sighed. "Yeah. Hunter cries like crazy when there's none of the ectoplasmic milk that Jedidiah's cows produce at home." He reached over and slapped Danny hard on the back, making the half ghost swerve to correct his flight. "I'm glad to see your skills haven't dulled."

"I'm so happy to have met your approval," Danny returned sarcastically, but he wore an amused smile. The ghost related part of his life had gotten much better over the years, much to his relief.


	17. Chapter 17

Dash slammed the door shut after Xander bounced out, happily clutching a small wrapped gift in his hands that he insisted he needed to hold onto until they reached the Fenton house. A grin slipped onto his face as Dash grabbed the gift from the trunk. Xander was overly eager to give his handmade present to his friend. They walked up to the front door that had colorful streamers decorating the frame and balloons tied to weights on either side of the door. Dash wondered what sort of crazy decorations Fenton put up inside the house as he rang the bell. In a moment, the door opened, and the person that greeted him left him with his jaw dropped in surprise.

"Dash!" The auburn haired woman threw her arms around him, giving him a big hug before she released him then stepped aside to allow him to enter the house. "I didn't expect to see you here."

"That makes two of us," Dash said with an awkward laugh as he and Xander passed through the doorway. "It's good to see you again, Jazz."

"I only just arrived this morning. Kind of a surprise for Danny." Jazz smiled, which Dash returned. He owed a lot of thanks to Jazz for tutoring him freshmen year of high school, even if she thought she wasn't getting through his thick skull every time they studied together. "So presents are supposed to go on the table in here," she explained as she led the way into the front room. There was a long table added to the far wall where other presents were already piled from the previous guests' arrivals. More streamers were drooping from the ceiling and draping down the wall in colors of green, red, white, and black. Balloons of similar colors were tied at either end of the table.

"Who's that, Daddy?" Xander asked, tugging on his father's pant leg.

After he added the present to the table, Dash crouched down before his son. "That's Jazz. She's Lex's aunt."

"Hi," Jazz greeted him with a friendly smile as she bent over with her hands on her knees. "Your dad and I used to go to high school with each other."

"I thought I heard the doorbell," Fenton said as he entered the front room. "Hey there, Xander. Lex is out back with the other children if you want to join him." The mention of Lex got an immediate big, face cracking smile from Xander, but he paused and glanced back at his father.

"Go on," Dash encouraged, giving his son a little nudge. "Go have fun." With a bright grin, Xander darted through the house toward the back door. Dash stood up with his hands on his hips.

"So you had a kid," Jazz said with a half a smirk as she eyed the blond man. "Danny failed to mention that."

"I was busy getting the house all ready for the party," Fenton argued. "You kind of caught me by surprised. Did you want me to ramble on about Dash living here, and Kwan, and apparently Paulina as well? And you know," he pointed a finger at his sister, "you're one to talk about keeping things quiet. I still can't believe you and Tucker were dating without saying anything. Then you go and get engaged and sit quiet on that for two whole weeks before saying anything to me."

"Whoa!" Dash cut in, waving an arm between the siblings. "You," he pointed at Jazz, "and the techno geek? Together? Getting married?"

"Jealous you missed your chance?" Fenton questioned with a teasing grin.

"Oh yeah," Jazz said slowly, waving a finger at Dash like it suddenly hit her. "You had a crush on me back in high school."

"What? No!" Dash snorted, but a blush crept onto his cheeks. He wasn't exactly discreet about things like that in freshmen year. During their tutoring sessions, he used to hit on Jazz pretty obviously. He flirted with plenty of the other pretty girls in their school, though Jazz might have stood a notch above most of them. "Anyway," he continued before either of them could call him on that quick denial, "I'm happy for you, Jazz." He pulled the woman into a hug of congratulations. "Not sure what you see in Foley," he added when he let her go, "but as long as he makes you happy. And since Fenton," he tossed a thumb at the raven haired man, "is probably too buddy-buddy with Foley to say it, I will make Foley pay if he ever hurts you."

"Hey!" Fenton shouted in protest.

Jazz chuckled. "Actually, Danny already had that 'talk' with Tucker." She smirked, her aqua eyes meeting with her brother's gaze in a look that Dash couldn't decipher. "He made sure to let Tucker know that he wouldn't stand by if his big sis got hurt, best friend or not."

If Fenton ever tried to give him that "talk," Dash probably would have laughed in his face at the very thought of the man trying to beat him up for hurting his sister. But against Foley? Dash guessed Fenton could probably knock the techno geek for a few rounds. Dash eyed the man with some respect for his protectiveness of his sister. Paulina wasn't his sister by blood, but Dash still thought of her like a sister. Any man that hurt her would have a painful meeting with his fists.

"Ah, Jazz!" Fenton gasped, crossing over to the other end of the table where the birthday cake sat. "You got out the wrong one."

"You have more than one cake?" Dash asked, lifting a brow as he stared at the cake with the bright green icing.

"Uh," Fenton looked away, "yeah?" With a flush of color, he picked up the cake. "I, uh, messed up on this one, so I made a second one." His mouth thinned as he shot a look at his sister.

"Sorry! You didn't say which one so I just grabbed the one on top," Jazz explained as Fenton headed out of the front room with the cake in his hands.

"He bakes cakes?" Dash held back a chuckle as he lifted an eyebrow at the woman beside him.

"He was terrible with all types of cooking in the beginning." Jazz shrugged then folded her arms. "Sam got him to keep working at it. But Danny really grew to like baking the most. You should try some of his fresh baked bread sometime. And his ice cream? They're so rich and creamy. I try to keep to a strict diet, but I can't resist when Danny decides to whip up some ice cream."

"I am so speechless right now." Dash shook his head as the image of Fenton in a frilly apron furiously stirring cake batter in a large silver bowl popped into his head. He found it shocking enough that Fenton made pancakes in various shapes.

"There's a lot you missed out learning about Danny because you bullied him." Jazz frowned, her aqua eyes narrowing at him.

"Well, our sons seem to be becoming fast friends." Dash scratched behind an ear. "I guess I'll have plenty of time to learn all those things I missed out on."

"Your son is quite cute." Jazz placed a hand to her chin with a thoughtful expression. "I don't see any sign of Hispanic heritage, so I'm guessing his mother isn't Paulina." She turned a curious look on Dash. "Is she someone I would know or someone you met in college? Probably college. Is she too busy with work to come to the party? A lot of the other parents are hanging around. I don't think they trust Danny."

With a mental groan, Dash would put money on Mrs. Duvall sticking around, and probably keeping a sharp eye on Fenton in her distrust of the man. "The college thing is right," he answered and sighed, not wanting to think about Xander's mother. "And honestly, I don't even know where she is. She dropped Xander off on my doorstep and ran off into the sunset. Lucky for us, the woman quickly turned into a nightmare."

Jazz rested a hand on his shoulder and gave it a comforting squeeze. "I'm sorry," she said, frowning sadly at him. "That must have been hard on you, raising your son all by yourself."

"Well, I had my parents, though my dad tried to convince me to put Xander up for adoption." Dash hurriedly continued when he saw the expression spreading onto the woman's face. "But he was just trying to think of my future. You know, having a child to raise can make things difficult for a young adult. But even if his mother was a witch of a woman, Xander is my son. I couldn't just give him up like that. And Kwan and Paulina were there to help out when I needed it."

"I'm glad you grew into such a good man, Dash. I was," Jazz laughed, pushing some of her hair behind an ear, "a bit worried about you, being a bully and all in high school. I thought maybe you'd never grow out of that phase. Some high school bullies tend to fall into a bad crowd, a bad lifestyle. And I'm glad you have some good friends that have your back when you need it."

"I've got their backs too, you know," Dash said, puffing out his chest.

"I have no doubts there." Jazz smiled, but at that moment, the doorbell rang again. "Oh, I have to go get that. You can go mingle with the other parents, if you like." She hurried back into the front hall to greet whoever arrived.

Dash actually wasn't looking forward to the "mingling with other parents," especially the ones that he suspected remained behind to keep watch on the party. Walking through the house, he passed Fenton on the way to the back door. The other man held another cake in his hands, this one having white icing with the top decorated like a soccer ball. Dash stepped around him, giving him plenty of room so that Fenton wouldn't accidentally drop the cake.

When he exited the house, the explosion of noise from the children made Dash cringe. The children were having a field day, running around the back yard. Many of the parents that remained found seats to sit down or were milling around the food table that had a punch bowl and stacks of little paper cups and snacks in the form of sliced up vegetables with a dip. Dash's blue eyes immediately found the two boys. Lex and Xander were sitting with a little girl whose red hair was tied back in pigtails. They seemed to be having a nice conversation, about what Dash wasn't sure, but as long as they were having fun together, that was all that really mattered.

Dash wove his way through the crowd of children, fifteen in all, as he headed toward the refreshments to get himself a cup of punch. As he predicted, Mrs. Duvall was there, sitting in one of the few chairs with her nose in the air and that sense about her like she thought herself a queen. Dash scowled inwardly at the sight of her and made sure to stand as far away from her as possible. After pouring himself a cup of punch, he turned around, casting his gaze about the yard. His nose wrinkled when he spotted Jeremy and Vincent in one corner of the yard, poking sticks under the fence. As he sipped at the punch, his eyes narrowed, and he wondered what the two boys were doing. Whatever it was, he doubted it would be good.

"Well, Dash," said Ms. Rockwell as she joined Dash with two of her friends. She wore a grin as she folded her arms. Her hair matched the same red as her daughter's hair. "Leah saw you in there chatting up the new dad. You seemed pretty close to him, according to her."

Dash frowned, turning his eyes from Ms. Rockwell to Ms. Salgado. She was a rounded woman that was surprising light on her feet, somehow managing to sneak around to pick up pieces of gossip to spread back to the other mothers. "Fenton and I were classmates in high school."

"Then you must know if he's single or seeing anyone," Ms. Zahner said, grinning like a hungry harpy waiting to pounce on her prey.

Dash glanced at each other the three women, eagerly awaiting what he would say. Paulina's words replayed in his mind, recalling what she said about Manson's death. The single mothers already knew about his own single status, but they had years to flirt with him. Even though he kept turning them down, it didn't stop them from trying to invite him on dates. They were nice to talk with, but when it came to them hitting on him, Dash always felt exhausted. He imagined dealing with three single mothers looking for a good man to introduce into their family lives was the last thing Fenton needed to deal with at that moment.

"Actually, he's married," Dash said and took another sip of his punch. "His wife had to go out of town on a last minute business trip that she couldn't get out of."

The three women moaned unhappily, having hoped for fresh meat in which to try to sink their claws. After finishing off his punch, Dash crushed the paper cup and tossed it into the trash can beside the table. That lie probably wouldn't last long, especially if the women talked to Fenton directly about Manson and he stupidly told them he was available. Fenton appeared in the back yard a few minutes later, coming to chat with some of the parents. Mrs. Duvall immediately wore a sour expression, narrowing her eyes at him. After nearly half an hour, Fenton announced it was time to open presents before serving the cake, which earned cheers from all the children as they hurried to file into the house.

Dash managed to catch Jeremy and Vincent before they entered, trailing behind the crowd as they snickered to each other. "You two better not be up to something," he warned, narrowing his eyes menacingly down at the pair. "We won't tolerate any misbehaving from you two."

Vincent gulped, visibly scared of what the adult would do if they were caught stirring up trouble. Jeremy, on the other hand, had a big head and snorted at the warning as he pushed past the blond man. Dash frowned as he watched the two boys disappear into the house. He did warn them, at least. He hoped for Fenton's sake that they wouldn't go through with any bad plans they had in mind.


	18. Chapter 18

"I can't believe that little monster," Danny grumbled as he cleaned up the mess on the floor, thankful now that there was no carpeting in the room. He didn't want to imagine the hassle that would come from cleaning up cake ground into the carpet because some little boy decided to be a complete brat.

"You probably would have been better off not inviting Jeremy," Dash said, wiping the floor with a wet cloth, trying to rid it of the stickiness from the icing. The last thing Danny wanted to deal with at this point was a bug infestation because they were drawn to the sugary residue. "And of course, his mother picked out such a _great_ present." Dash rolled his dark blue eyes, annoyance flashing through his expression.

"I'm pretty sure it was a chew toy for a dog," Danny mumbled, thinking back on the gift. When his son opened the present, Danny was, admittedly, confused by the short twisted length of rope knotted at both ends, but thinking more on it, he was positive it was something picked up at a pet store. "That woman sure seemed to have a foul attitude." He sat back on his legs as he watched the blond man finish wiping down the sticky parts of the floor.

"Yeah," Dash glanced at him and winced, "that may have been in part my fault." He sighed as he stood up, absently folding the dirty, wet towel. "I ran into her when I was out with Xander to pick out a present, and I may have pointed out that her son is a brat." He glanced away with some embarrassment.

"Well, I can't say I don't think she fully deserved it." Danny frowned at the man before getting to his feet, putting his weight on his left foot. "But from that scowl on her face, she seemed to really hate you." Folding his arms, he lifted an eyebrow at the man.

"That wouldn't be our first time butting heads." Dash glanced down at the towel then back to Danny, halfway holding it out like he was uncertain what to do with it. "Pretty much ever since our children were in kindergarten, we've had confrontations with each other. Mrs. Duvall pretty much acts like she runs the school, but the decisions she makes aren't really what's best for the students. She seems to think she knows how best to budget the school's funds, but things like eliminating the lunch plan doesn't help things as a cost saving measure. For some students, that lunch is basically their only certain meal for the day. But of course, she's rich and doesn't think about what it's like for people without money."

"Sounds like a real winner of a woman," Danny muttered as he took the towel from Dash. "Well, this will, hopefully, be the last time I ever have to deal with her. I'm certainly not inviting her son to another birthday party." He headed through the house, limping as he walked, to toss the dirty towels into the laundry basket. "You know, you didn't have to stay and help me with the clean up."

Dash shrugged, having trailed after Danny toward the laundry room. "It's fine. I don't have work today, and no emergencies have come up." He reached over and knocked on the wooden doorframe. "Besides, the boys seem to be enjoying those super soakers."

Danny turned his head, glancing out the window to the back yard where he could see the two boys having fun squirting at each other with the soakers. "Seems like they're really enjoying squirting Tucker with them." He chuckled, shaking his head.

"And you're totally cool with your best friend marrying your sister?"

"Well, I mean," Danny shrugged. "Of course there's some weirdness to it. But I'm happy they love each other." He tilted his head as one eyebrow rose up toward his hairline. "It would be weird for you if Paulina and Kwan were suddenly dating, right? But you'd be happy for them because they're happy with each other, right?"

Dash laughed in response. "I really don't see that happening, but yeah, I would be happy for them." His gaze dropped to Danny's right leg that the man was once again avoiding putting any weight on. "How's the leg?"

Danny sighed, still feeling a dull throb from the injury. "It should be fine. The neighbors are, understandably not pleased that their dog got out from their yard and bit someone."

"It wasn't your fault though," Dash argued, frowning as brow pinched in an angry expression.

"I know. The dog is actually pretty nice. Lex really liked it when we went to meet the neighbors," Danny explained as his mouth thinned, recalling the cause of the dog's anger. "It probably never would have attacked if Jeremy hadn't been provoking it by poking a stick at it. I don't think that whole event put me in good standing with the other parents."

"Not all of them. Some of them know it was Jeremy's fault. And you _did_ stop the dog from biting one of the kids."

"Man, those kids are terrors with those things," Tucker complained as he entered the house, almost entirely soaked through from being the target of the children's game. "I'm going to head upstairs and change." He headed toward the stairs, and a moment later, Jazz came in with the two super soakers in her hands and two boys trotting after her like a pair of ducklings following their mother.

"We want to play more," Lex whined, tugging at his aunt's shirt.

"You've played enough for one day," Jazz said and gave the two boys a stern look despite their groans of disappointment. "You're both already drenched from squirting at each other."

"Well," Dash said, rubbing at the back of his neck, "I guess we really should be getting out of your hair now."

"Oh, uh, right." Danny jolted at the announcement, wondering how he could fall into moments like that with Dash where talking felt like it was with an old friend rather than his high school bully. The weirdest part was that it didn't even feel strange at all. It felt almost as normal as chatting with Tucker. He was tempted to tell Dash that it was all right if they wanted to stay a little longer, but he remembered the second party that would be happening soon.

"Can Lex stay over tonight?" Xander asked as he came to stand before his father.

"Ah, not tonight. But maybe next weekend," Danny offered with an apologetic smile.

"Aw," Xander whined, pushing out his lower lip as he pouted.

"It was very nice to meet you, Xander," Jazz said when she approached their group with Lex holding onto her hand. She was completely dry, having avoided any hits from the super soakers.

"You're nice, Ms. Lex's Auntie." Xander grinned widely up at her.

"All right, little guy." Dash picked his son up and balanced him on his hip. "Time to hit the road."

Danny followed father and son toward the front door with Lex and Jazz trailing behind them. After Danny opened the front door, Lex caught hold of Dash's pant leg, making the blond man stop before they could leave. Dash stared down at the suddenly shy boy.

"I, um," Lex released his hold on the jeans and started playing with the hem of his shirt, twisting it so that water dripped from the damp material, "wanted to say thanks. For the presents. They were really awesome. I liked them."

"We're very happy that you liked them. Aren't we?" Dash gave his a little pinch on the leg, and Xander nodded his head enthusiastically as his cheeks tinged pink. Dash gave his son's leg a little jiggle to get the boy to speak.

"You're welcome, Lex," Xander said in a quiet voice. "See you at school." He waved sadly as he departed with his father. Lex stood in the doorway, waving after them as they walked toward their car.

"I almost can't believe that boy is Dash's son," Jazz said when the front door was closed.

"So completely different from how Dash was, huh?" Danny grinned, remembering what a terror the former jock was back when they were children.

"But I'm glad." Jazz nodded, sending a smile toward her brother. "He's changed a lot since then, and he's trying to raise his son to be a good kid, rather than passing on his bad behavior from when he was young."

"Bad behavior?" Lex repeated, glancing between the two adults as his brow wrinkled in confusion.

"It's nothing to worry about." Danny ruffled Lex's hair.

"Seems like the first of the ghosts have arrived," Tucker announced as he came back down the stairs, now dressed in fresh, clean clothes. When he listened, Danny could hear the sounds of the ghosts coming through the Portal in the laboratory since the ghosts weren't exactly being quiet about their arrival. Lex grinned happily as he darted toward the door to the laboratory, and the adults followed after him.

"Uncle Wulf!" Lex cried and hopped into the waiting arms of the wolf ghost. Wulf nuzzled his wet nose against the boy's cheek, drawing out a giggle from the child.

"I still can't believe you didn't let me play for the party, dipstick," Ember said with Hunter held in her arms, head buried against her neck as Hunter snored softly while sleeping. Hunter's skin was a soft shade of grayish blue. The tufts of hair that Hunter possessed matched the same neon green and blue of Skulker and Ember's flaming hair, each lock streaked one color after the other.

"When I let you guys help me decorate the house last year, you scared half the children to death with that haunted house," Danny said, folding his arms as he narrowed his eyes at the singer.

Ember rolled bright green eyes. "Music isn't going to scare the children. And I promised this time, I would keep it child appropriate."

"He said no to the human party," Elle said, grinning as she appeared at Ember's side, "but he probably would allow you to play for this party."

"So long as you don't do any mind controlling," Tucker added because a bunch of mind controlled ghosts running around town would probably be a really bad thing. That brought up bad memories that left a sour look on Danny's face.

"What's that?" Desiree asked, kneeling in front of Lex, who was being held by Wulf, who seemed like an overgrown puppy greeting his master after being separated for too long at that moment. Danny glanced at what his son was holding and felt a horrible flush rising to his cheeks.

"Dad!" Lex answered, proudly holding out the stuffed doll that actually took Danny a while to figure out after Xander gave it to Lex as a present. The crude design of it brought some ridicule to Xander, entirely from Jeremy who laughed at the doll and taunted the poor raven haired boy. Dash explained to Danny that Xander really wanted to give his friend something special and wanted to make it. Dash helped his son but left it mostly to Xander, who wasn't very good at sewing yet, but Lex didn't care if it wasn't high quality. His son was thrilled with the gift, and Danny suspected the doll would be his new favorite toy to keep in his bed while he slept at night.

"Oh?" Desiree twisted around to grin at Danny. "It's a very cute doll of your dad."

"Xander made it!" Lex hugged the doll to his chest.

"Friend?" Wulf questioned, and Lex turned his head to nod at the wolf ghost.

"All right. The fun has arrived," Dan announced as he came through the Portal.

"That break from Dan was short lived," Danny muttered to Tucker with a sigh, and his friend patted him on the back.

"I hope I'm not late." Vlad stepped out of the Portal behind Dan.

"Vlad, I told you that you didn't have to come if you were busy," Danny said, watching as the man pushed a much too large present over to the table where all the ghosts placed their gifts for the birthday boy.

"Nonsense, Daniel." Vlad smiled, though it held that lingering hint of an evil smirk that Danny doubted he would never not see in the man's expression. "I couldn't miss out on young Lex's birthday."

"Please tell me you didn't get him something horribly expensive." Danny mentally groaned at that thought.

"Is it time to open the presents?" Lex asked, sitting on Wulf's shoulders as the wolf ghost carried him about to meet with the other ghosts.

"Yeah, go on." Danny smiled as his son excitedly directed Wulf toward the table so that he could start on ripping open the gifts. "I'll go grab the cake." He hurried back up the stairs and into the kitchen.

When he stared at the cake with its bright green icing, Danny was relieved that he caught the mistake before it was too late. The thought of how the party would have gone if the children ate the ectoplasmic cake instead of the normal one sent a shudder through him. That error probably would have placed him in even worse standing with the other parents. He wasn't even sure how eating something made with ectoplasmic ingredients would affect humans, but he certainly didn't want to find out.

Picking up the cake, Danny carried it down into the laboratory. The gathering was noisy with chatter while Lex unwrapped his presents. He neared the bottom of the stairs when a sudden blast of loud noise startled him. Stumbling, his foot missed the step, and he fell backward, hitting the stairs with a groan of pain. The cake flew up in the air before dropping down right on top of him, splattering him with the ectoplasmic sugary substance. The laboratory burst into a loud explosion of laughter when every ghost turned to look at him.

"Danny, are you all right?" Jazz was at his side in an instant, worry written upon her face as she helped him to his feet.

"Yeah." Danny frowned as he rubbed at his sore back. "What was that noise?"

"My gift to your son, dipstick." Ember wore a grin that filled Danny with a sense of dread. He didn't feel any better when he turned his gaze to his son and saw Lex holding a trumpet in his hands. "But don't worry. It's tuned to a ghost frequency, so living people won't be able to hear it."

"I didn't hear anything just now," Tucker admitted with a shrug. Danny sighed tiredly, but at least the gift wouldn't annoy the neighbors with its loudness.

"Dad! Dad!" Lex ran up to him, grinning brightly. "Look what Uncle Vlad got me!" He grabbed hold of his father's hand and dragged him over to where the gift was. Danny stared at the present with apprehension as Lex hopped onto the mini motorcycle that Vlad gave him.

"Vlad, seriously?" Danny shot a glare at the man, who shrugged like his gift wasn't inappropriate in any manner.

"You have nothing to worry about, Daniel," Vlad insisted. "He won't be able to actually drive it anywhere without your supervision. I'm sure you'll be able to figure out how to evolve it with time." With a smirk, he tossed a handheld device to Danny, who frowned as he caught it. Somehow, he had a bad feeling about that particular gift.


	19. Chapter 19

"Damn it!" Kwan cursed as he sucked on his index finger, tasting a warm metallic taste upon his lip. He got to his feet with a grumble as he went in search of the Band-Aids in his apartment. The night was going splendidly, if he ignored this being the third time that he cut himself while working. The box of Band-Aids sat where he left it when he needed to grab one about an hour ago. Two Band-Aids remained in the box, and he took one out with a sigh, making a mental note to remember to buy some more the next time he went to the store. After wrapping his index finger with the Band-Aid, he stared at his hands. Both index fingers and his left ring finger were bandaged. Placing his hands on the counter, he stood there and frowned at the off white stone top as he pondered just giving up for the night and crawling into bed.

Three rapid knocks sounded at the door to his apartment. Leaving the bathroom, Kwan walked hesitantly toward the door. His mouth drew downward as his aqua green eyes stared at the door with some suspicion. Dash and Paulina would have told him if they were coming over before they randomly appeared at his door. Dash wouldn't visit him this late on a Sunday either since he would have put Xander to bed a few hours ago. Who would show up at his place at a quarter past ten? He scratched his head in wonder, unable to think of anyone he knew. It could always be a neighbor, of course, though they didn't often bother him.

Kwan stepped up to the door and placed his eye near the peep hole. The person he saw standing on the other side of the door sent a tendril of anger coiling tightly inside his chest. Of all the people to turn up at his apartment, why _him_? With a sigh, he opened the door slightly and glared through the crack at the man.

"How did you even find out where I live, Dan?" Kwan scowled, almost certain this was some form of stalking the man was doing. Danny wouldn't know where he lived, and Dash was unlikely to give Dan his address.

Dan shrugged with a cocky grin on his face. "I have my ways. Aren't you going to be a nice, polite guy and invite me in?"

His eyes narrowed, and his jaw hurt from clenching too tightly. "Why?" Kwan demanded, rage seeping into his voice despite that Dan hadn't done anything to him. Yet. The yet stood out firmly in his mind, expecting the man to try something at any moment even with a door between them. "So you can-" He cut off his snappy remark when he spied one of his neighbors standing in front of their door. "Get in here."

Kwan stepped aside, pulling the door open with some reluctance. Though he didn't really want to talk with Dan, he would rather hold any further conversation inside his apartment and away from the snooping ears of his neighbors. Mr. Hendricks was a foul old man, short and withered with his pale wrinkled flesh and thinning gray hair. He looked like one accidental bump would knock him over and break his hip. Again. His hands clutched at his cane, helping to keep him standing. Since Kwan moved in, Mr. Hendricks always shot him nasty looks and made complaints to the building's board about him. Kwan doubted holding an argument with Dan in the hallway would go overlooked by the man, who would probably try to use his sexuality as an excuse to get him evicted, even though being a homosexual wouldn't count as a reason to evict someone from their apartment.

Once he closed the door, Kwan turned around and pinned Dan with a glare, his left eye twitching out of annoyance. Dan already threw himself down on the couch, lounging on it like he belonged there as his dark blue eyes swept around the apartment, completely ignoring the furious gaze on him.

"What are you doing here, Dan?" Kwan demanded, folding his arms as he placed himself in front of the man.

"You don't get people coming over to hang out?" Dan lifted an eyebrow and cocked his head to one side.

Kwan ground his teeth at that irritating grin plastered on the man's face. "I hang out with people," he snapped. "But you didn't answer why _you're_ here." He managed to swallow, despite the dryness of his mouth and throat at that moment. The bad vibes about this man filled him with a nervous feeling, an anticipation that he would do something similar to what happened at Bob's Bar and Grill bringing tension to every muscle in his body.

Dan sat up from his leisurely pose with his arms thrown over the back of couch and his legs partially spread. Kwan tensed, if possible, even more and stepped back when Dan leaned forward, balancing his arms on his legs.

"You don't have to be afraid of me," Dan said as he frowned at the man before him. "I'm not going to do anything to you." He turned his head away, grumpiness flashing in his eyes. "Danny will probably yell at me for even coming over here since he doesn't want you and Dash getting pissed at him because of something I did."

"Then why _did_ you come over?" Kwan hugged his arms a bit tighter around his body, the tension beginning to make him feel sick. He was still wondering how Dan even knew where he lived. "You could save yourself being yelled at by not bothering to meet me."

"Yeah, well, I can handle Danny being angry with me." Dan smirked devilishly. "I'm always provoking him." He shrugged as he leaned back against the couch again. "I," he frowned, keeping his gaze away from Kwan, "may have overstepped that night. I'm used to teasing Danny mostly, and while he gets upset, he knows I'm just doing it to get a reaction out of him. But you," he turned his gaze back to Kwan, who shifted uncomfortably under it, "don't know anything about me. Naturally, I realize, my form of teasing may have upset you."

His brow wrinkled as Kwan ran his eyes over the man's body. "Are you-" He frowned, the thought having trouble forming in his mind. "Are you trying to apologize to me?"

Dan shifted with some discomfort. "I don't usually apologize for my actions, but I'll make an exception for this instance." He took a deep breath and shifted again on the couch, obviously struggling with his words. "I'm sorry for offending you like that."

Kwan stared at the man, now almost resembling an awkward teenager rather than a grown man as he absently picked at the fabric of the couch's armrest. Shifting his weight to one foot, he continued to eye the man, trying to find some hint of deception that Dan wasn't serious at all about his apology. "So," Kwan started, suffering for a moment of not knowing where to take the conversation. He reached up and scratched behind an ear. "Um, why did you do it?"

Dan tilted his head with a confused furrowing of his brow. "Do what?"

"The," Kwan's face grew warm, no doubt turning several shades of red, " _kiss_!" He wanted to smack his forehead for even bringing it up when he was perfectly content to continue pretending that it didn't happen. "What exactly did you expect to happen after that? You had to suspect that it would piss me off. And what was with the whole chasing that woman off?" Even though he tried not to think too had about that part of that night, the questions wouldn't leave his mind alone.

"She was a floozy," Dan stated bluntly, frowning with an oddly serious expression upon his face that unsettled Kwan. "All she was looking for was a quick lay with you."

"So you thought you'd come over and act like the big bad protector for me?" Kwan resisted the urge to kick the man in his shin. "I'm so dumb that I couldn't figure that out on my own." He rolled his eyes before glaring at the man. "That hasn't been the first time a woman hit on me for that very reason. But I'm capable of not falling for that kind of trick. Do you think I'm going to fall for some lame line and let the woman lure me back to her place where she'll have her wicked way with me just to toss me out right afterward like a piece of trash?"

Dan blinked, a stunned look passing through his eyes. "Okay. Maybe I didn't stop to consider all of that. But," he stood up, and when Dan stepped closer, Kwan immediately backed up to put space between them. His legs bumped into the coffee table, and Dan caught Kwan by the arm before he could fall onto the table. "Did you," Dan's intense stare into his eyes was only increased Kwan's fear, "ever stop to consider that seeing that woman paw all over you made me jealous?"

He really didn't like this. His body felt horribly stiff with a tightness squeezing in his chest. Kwan shoved away from the man, knocking into the table and overturning it with a crash that scattered the books and papers resting on it as he fell to the ground. "You," he growled, scrambling to his feet and gaining some distance between him and the man. Anger burned out the fear as his hands clenched in tight fists. "You said you weren't going to do anything." But why he would even believe that statement was a mystery to him. He had zero reason to trust anything about this man.

Dan raised his hands in a sign of surrender as he slowly lowered himself back onto the couch. "No touching. Gotcha." His expression shifted, mouth thinning and eyes narrowing like they were trying to pierce right into Kwan. "You didn't answer my question."

"Your quest-" Kwan shouted before grinding his teeth painfully as he glowered at the man. "Jealous?" he scoffed with a bitter laugh. "How can you be jealous? You barely even know me. We only met once before that night."

"I know you're way too smart to be a simple grade school teacher," Dan said, keeping careful watch of Kwan's every action. "I know you're great with children. And," a smirk twisted onto his face, "I know you enjoyed that kiss I gave you."

His face grew red again, and no amount of effort would stop the blush. "You caught me by surprised. That hardly counts."

"I say it counts plenty." Dan grinned as he threw his arms over the back of the couch again.

Kwan barely managed to hold back a growl of frustration. Dan seemed way too cocky over one little kiss. "The fact still stands that you don't really know anything about me, and I know basically nothing about you."

"Then we'll get to know each other. Isn't that how relationships usually work?" Dan patted the spot on the couch next to him, but Kwan was wary about moving to sit anywhere near him. "You didn't know anything about Dash and Paulina when you became friends with them. So start asking me stuff."

His mouth pursed with the uncertainty of that whole arrangement, even if Dan brought up a fair point. Kwan didn't know anything about the women he spoke to whenever he went to a bar or club or some other place to meet people. The idea was unsettling to him, but with some great reluctance, he decided to give the man a chance. Dan was behaving, mostly, so far since his arrival. Kwan righted the table then picked up everything that fell to place back on it before he hesitantly sat down on the couch, sitting as far away as it allowed. Disappointment crossed Dan's face, and an awkwardness swept through the apartment. Where was he even supposed to start with getting to know this man?

Kwan raked a hand through his hair as he pondered things. "You keep saying things about me being too smart to be a teacher." He frowned, glancing the man over as he narrowed his eyes. "Why do you think that? You don't know me at all."

Dan pursed his mouth to one side as he turned his gaze away. The gears worked, grinding, in his brain as he took his time to think of his answer.

Kwan glared at the man with suspicion fighting its way into his mind. "No," he snapped as he stood. "If you're just going to spew out lies, you can get out now." He snapped his arm up, pointing toward the door. "I'm not going to get to know you if you're not going to tell me the truth."

"I'll answer as honestly as I can," Dan said, frowning as he leaned on his side's armrest and rested his head in his hand. "But there are some things I can't fully tell you because they aren't my secrets alone. And part of explaining that whole," he gestured at Kwan with his free hand, "too smart thing involves revealing something about Danny, and I can't do that."

Kwan slowly sank back onto the couch. "How noble of you," he muttered dryly, still wondering how much he could really trust this man, but he reluctantly admitted that he would think a lot less of the man if he so easily revealed someone else's secret, especially his cousin's. "Then tell me something real about yourself." He leaned back against the couch, trying to relax but having a hard time of it.

"Something real," Dan mumbled as he held a hand to his chin and pondered his answer. "I was a pretty horrible person." His expression became unreadable as he spoke, making it impossible to really tell if he was lying or not. "I destroyed everything in my path and hurt a lot of people along the way without a care about how my actions affected others. I was a complete mess back then, living on rage and pain and loneliness." His mouth curved downward, and he turned to face Kwan. "But Danny knocked some sense into me, gave me a second chance despite how much shit I did to him. I thought he was a complete dumbass for that at the time, but then I met Lex, and," he shrugged, "I guess some sort of parental instinct kicked in because all I could think when I stared at Lex was that I wanted to protect him."

Kwan stared at him, mouth hanging open in surprise as he tried to process that confession. How did he even respond to something like that? He thought maybe the man would say his favorite color was black or that he hated eating vegetables or his favorite band was Dumpty Humpty. He didn't think the man would give him that kind of answer.

"Since I've answered your question," Dan continued, and Kwan became overly aware of the way the man was staring at him, "I think you should have to answer my question. So," he paused to think of what he wished to ask first, tilting his head back like he might find some clue written on the ceiling, "if you didn't choose to become a teacher, what kind of career would you want to have?"

"Uh, well, I never really thought about it," Kwan mumbled, rubbing at the back of his neck. This all felt suddenly weird to him. They were back to being able to hold a civil conversation like they did that first day when Lex came over to play with Xander at Dash's house. He could almost really believe the kiss never happened between them and caused a rift that seemed like they would never be able to close it again.

"Of course you have," Dan said as he poked at the other man's side. "Don't even try to act like you've never thought about another career choice. So come on. Spill." He kept poking at Kwan until the man finally slapped the hand away.

"Okay. Stop already. Man, you're annoying," Kwan grumbled, hugging his arms around him like that could protect him from anymore poking. "I, well-" He sighed with a frown. "I always liked inventing stuff, but I didn't think I'd ever make it into any of the colleges that had good engineering programs."

"Nonsense!" Dan scoffed. "Any college that wouldn't accept you is filled with morons."

"And there's that weird feeling like you know way too much about me for this being only the third time we've met." Kwan frowned, not liking that feeling.

"Enilemit siht ni," Dan muttered, refusing to look at the other man.

"What was that?" Kwan's brow pinched, but he couldn't make out any of the words the man said.

Dan waved it off as he plastered a grin to his face. "Have you worked on anything recently?"

The question received a few blinks. "Uh," Kwan said with a light flush as he tugged at an ear, "I was trying to make something just before you arrived."

"Well, come on, Mr. Genius." Dan got to his feet, tugging Kwan up also. "Show me what you've got."

Kwan glared flatly at him. "Don't say something like that again." Sighing, he led the way to his room where he was working before cutting his finger again on his project. "If you laugh, I'll punch you," he warned, shooting yet another glare at the other man. "I know it's kind of dumb." He stared down at the various parts laid out on his desk, none of it really making much sense at that moment. The design wasn't coming together as well as he thought it would when he started sketching it all out on paper.

"Kind of rough work," Dan mumbled, picking up one piece to examine it.

Kwan didn't know what to make of that look that crossed the man's face. It almost seemed like disappointment, and for some reason that bothered him. He knew his work wasn't very good, but Dan looked like he expected a lot more out of him. His gaze drifted away from Dan as a gloomy cloud hovered over him. When his eyes landed on the calendar, he felt a sudden jolt as he took in what today was. February fourteenth. Aqua green eyes darted quickly toward Dan, and Kwan wondered if the man had any idea that he stopped by on Valentine's Day. He shifted awkwardly as the date stuck out in his brain like sharp thorn to the side. What day it was completely slipped his mind while he remained in his apartment the entire day, tinkering with his little project. In recent years, he tended to avoid even thinking about Valentine's Day. He was never in a relationship when it rolled around, and hanging out in some bar simply to be around people seemed like a sad way to spend his night. Dan, however, was the last person with whom he expected to spend his Valentine's Day.

"What are these?"

The question yanked Kwan out of his thoughts. He turned to look at what caught the man's attention, and a lump of cold dread settled inside him when he saw the stack of papers with photographs attached to each file. "Uh, that's," he looked away, chewing on his lower lip, "from my parents." Of all the things! He felt like crawling away and disappearing. Dash and Paulina were the only ones that knew about that.

"Your parents send you pictures of girls?" Dan's expression was furious, his mouth thinning in an angry line as he crushed the papers in his hand.

Kwan rubbed at his face, not wanting to explain this to Dan. "Yes," he said with an exasperated sigh. "They're marriage candidates." He could feel the blush rising to his cheeks again as he kept his gaze lowered. "My parents have been doing this for years. I'm thirty now. They think I need to find a good woman and settle down and all that jazz. So they keep sending those things of whom they think are the best candidates for me." He scowled at the floor. He loved his parents, but this kind of thing grated on his nerves. "I don't want some stupid arranged marriage. I want to find someone who I'll fall in love with, not just someone to marry to please my parents and start giving them grandchildren."

"So you won't be too upset if I destroy these?" Dan tore the papers in half without waiting for a response.

Kwan watched in stunned silence as Dan made confetti out of the files. Little flakes of paper and photographs fluttered in the air, falling to the floor. He would be angry over the mess, but at that moment, he could only stare at Dan with that burning look in his blue eyes. Why was the man getting so angry over that same thing? He really couldn't understand Dan at all.

"If you want to fall in love with someone, the first thing you need to do is stop going to those stupid places where people are only looking for a one night hook up," Dan said in strained but even tone as the last of the shredded papers spilled to the floor. He stepped up close to Kwan, who was too stunned to move away this time. "Second, you shouldn't push someone away because of one mistake."

Dan's hand reached out, cupping the man's face with a strange gentleness, and staring into those dark blue eyes, Kwan felt a lump form in his throat. He saw it coming, watched in almost slow motion as Dan leaned in closer, but he couldn't get his body to respond. Lips touched his, pressing tentatively against his mouth. His eyes remained wide open, and he saw Dan staring back at him like he was waiting for some reaction from the man. The mouth moved against his, lips parted and teeth grazed against his lower lip, drawing it into Dan's mouth. The hand sliding around to the back of his head and drawing him closer was almost as distracting as the kiss itself. When a tongue nudged at his lips, Kwan snapped out of his stunned state. He shoved the man away from him as he rubbed his mouth with the back of his hand.

"What the hell?" Kwan shouted, his heart pounding in his chest, but he couldn't think of how to describe the feeling coursing through him. Conflicted feelings twisted inside him, but fear seemed to be the emotion dominating the other.

"Two mistakes." Dan winced. "I really don't understand why you keep pushing me away like this when you seem to respond to my kiss. But," he scratched at his head, frowning, "I'm not going to pressure you into anything you don't want to do."

His heart still felt like it was running a marathon as Kwan looked away. "I can't tell you about that," he mumbled with a sick sensation twisting inside him. "Not yet."

"Whenever you're ready then." Dan turned back to the desk, leaning on it. "So tell me more about what you're working on."

The change in topic left him silently grasping for words. Kwan hesitantly joined Dan's side, and when the man didn't try to attack him with another kiss, he started explaining the project. The tension melted out of him slowly as he talked about it, a smile appearing on his face as he answered Dan's question. In the back of his mind, he wondered how Dan could make it feel suddenly like the kiss hadn't just happened between them.


	20. Chapter 20

"That was _such_ a great party."

Lex turned his head away from his friends to frown at the other boy, who rolled his eyes and grinned at the boy beside him after his sarcastic comment. Since his first day at the new school, Lex decided he really didn't like Jeremy and his friend Vincent, who enjoyed teasing other students far too much.

"Your dad must not have a very good job if he couldn't bother spending enough money for a cooler party. You didn't even have a clown." Jeremy snorted with a triumphant look in his eyes, like somehow he was superior to Lex.

"Clowns are lame," Lex stated flatly. That wasn't what he really thought about clowns, but his father forbade him from mentioning anything about that time he encountered the ghost of a clown. His father fought ghosts, and sometimes, he couldn't avoid Lex being involved when the ghost appeared suddenly while they were out doing something. The clown ghost appeared out of nowhere, harassing the citizens of Amity Park, and Lex considered that one of his most terrifying experiences so far. It definitely didn't rank as the top, which was a horrific moment in his life that left him feeling sad and empty inside, but since then, he grew to dislike clowns.

"I thought it was a fun party," Denise said before she popped one of her crackers into her mouth. Since the day Lex stood up for her after she read out loud to the class, Denise fell into their little grouping, and when snack time rolled around, she came over to join Lex and Xander while they ate.

"Of course you would," Vincent said and nudged at Jeremy like he was expecting the other boy to give him some show of approval for his comment. "Your parties are total snooze fests."

Denise dropped her hand away from her mouth, about to eat another cracker, as she lowered her brown eyes. She hunched down in her seat, appearing even smaller than usual.

"Denise has good parties," Xander argued, his mouth pursing as he stared at the two bullies. "Better than _yours_."

"How would _you_ know?" Jeremy asked as the teasing smirk slipped onto his face. He leaned over the desk, and Xander gulped visibly as he sank an inch or two in his seat. "You've never been invited to my parties."

"Sounds like a good thing," Lex said, looking bored when Jeremy snapped a glower at him. "No one even wants you at their parties anyway. Being a dumb face doesn't make people like you."

"What was that?" Jeremy demanded, brandishing a fist.

Lex lifted an eyebrow at the other boy. Was a little fist like that really supposed to scare him? He had _ghost_ powers! They didn't always work the way he wanted, his control over them being rather lacking, but he certainly couldn't find a reason to be scared of Jeremy, especially after the punch he laid on the bully that first day. His father was teaching him how to handle himself in a fight, even if his father didn't _want_ him to fight. At least, not against a normal human and certainly not with his ghost powers. He was only eight years old, and he already saw plenty of things that would probably leave Jeremy curled up in the fetal position sobbing as he wet himself. And that was without even stepping foot into the Ghost Zone.

Jeremy really wasn't worth the effort to fight anyway. Lex only stepped in that first day because he overheard them teasing Xander about not having a mother. He struggled not to close his own hands into fists as he remembered that. Not having a mother wasn't something to make fun of. Not having a mother was really painful, and everyday hurt when he remembered his mother wasn't there anymore. The flashes of memory from that day still woke him up at night, and he couldn't get back to sleep again unless he crawled into bed with his father and had those reassuring arms that told him everything would be all right eventually around him. Jeremy didn't understand the pain of not having both parents, but Lex suspected he would never understand with that pigheadedness he had.

"He called you a dumb face," Vincent put in helpfully before stepping back, probably expecting the comment to be enough to incite Jeremy's rage and start a fight.

"Is that right?" Jeremy glared at Lex, who met the gaze evenly. "You think I'm a dumb face?"

Lex stood up, and he didn't miss the tension in Jeremy's body language as he brought up his fists. "Let's go eat somewhere else," he suggested as he picked up his bag of crackers. He walked toward another area of the room, and Xander and Denise followed after him with their snacks in hand.

"Ha!" Jeremy called, drawing the attention of the other students in the classroom, who were all enjoying their snacks. "I knew you were a coward. Too scared to fight me, huh?"

Pausing before they reached their new spot, Lex turned around to face the bully, who wore a smug triumphant grin. "Dad says walking away from a fight doesn't make someone a coward," he returned, frowning as his hand closed tightly around his bag of crackers. It would be so easy to let his temper get the better of him and stomp back over there and punch the other boy, but he promised his father he wouldn't start anymore fights at school, so he was trying very hard not to fall for that temptation and take the easy route simply because Jeremy was invoking anger in him. "It takes a bigger man to walk away from a fight that has no meaning."

"Your dad's a wimp." Jeremy pulled down one eyelid as he stuck out his tongue.

"Mr. Lex's Daddy is cooler than your parents could ever hope to be." Xander stuck out his own tongue in retaliation.

"A hero too," Denise added, and Lex gulped, fearing his family's secret got out somehow. "I didn't see _your_ mom jumping in to keep that dog from biting Melissa."

"Yeah!" Melissa stood up, her fair blonde hair trailing down to her waist in loose curls. "Your mom's mean. His dad at least cares about other kids." A murmur of agreement went through the classroom as the other students recalled the event from Saturday at the birthday party.

"Yeah, well-" Jeremy shouted but struggled for some sort of comeback to give him the upper hand again. "It's your dad's fault the dog got out. He should have fixed that gap below the fence."

"You poked at the dog with a stick," Billy argued before shrinking down in his seat again, fearing Jeremy's wrath for his comment, but the other students all shouted their agreement to his statement.

"Is there a problem going on in here?" their teacher asked, poking his head back into the classroom. At the beginning of their snack break, he got called out of the room to speak with one of the other teachers, but they stood by the door, which remained ajar, so he could keep an ear on what was happening inside the classroom. His expression was severe, that look that said he meant business and he wouldn't tolerate any foolish behavior.

"Jeremy's being mean again!" Melissa answered, pointing at the bully.

"You're such a tattle tale." Jeremy scowled at Melissa as he folded his arms.

"Jeremy," their teacher pointed to a corner at the front of the room where a small stool sat, "time out. Now." His expression was not happy in the slightest to hear that Jeremy was misbehaving yet again. The bully grumbled but went to sit on the time out stool, facing away from the rest of the students.

"Jeremy always acts like he's so much better than the rest of us," Denise complained as they finally reached their new spot to enjoy their snack. "Mom says he didn't fall far from the apple tree. I don't really know what that means, but it's probably true." She reached into her own bag and pulled out another cracker to eat.

"Dad always makes me leave the room when he wants to talk to Uncle Kwan about Jeremy." Xander tilted his head, pouting in wonder. Then he turned to Lex and poked at his knee. "Uncle Kwan seems different today."

"How do you mean?" Lex blinked, confused by the statement as he nibbled on a cracker.

"Well," Xander frowned as he tapped at his chin. "I don't know." He shrugged with a pout. "He's happy most of the time, but it feels different today."

"Now that you mention it," Denise said thoughtfully, "he did seem a little different. Maybe something good happen to him over the weekend."

"Something good?" Lex and Xander questioned together, both puzzled.

"Yeah, like, Mom always has these weird happy moods after a night out," Denise explained, but it didn't really help Lex understand what she meant.

The rest of their snack time was relatively quiet as they enjoyed chatting with each other. A lighter mood seemed to fill the room with Jeremy cast to the corner and not able to walk around harassing any other students. Lex frowned every time he glanced toward the back of the other boy. School would be tiring if he had to deal with Jeremy being a bully every day. After seeing the other boy's mother, Lex couldn't see Jeremy growing past this bad phase of his life.

Right before snack time ended, their teacher returned to the classroom, walking right over to Jeremy to hold a whispered conversation with the boy. Class started a few minutes later, much to the groans of the children, who reluctantly returned to their seats. They worked on math and writing and spelling. A few more students were selected to read passages from their book before the day ended. When the bell rang, the other students hurriedly grabbed their things before heading out the door. Lex remained behind, as usual, with Xander as he waited for his father to come pick him up.

"Let's play with the Legos," Xander suggested as he tugged the blond boy toward the box with the Legos kept on one of the shelves.

"Are you boys going to be okay if I step out for a moment?" their teacher questioned, wearing a frown as he gathered up a stack of papers from his desk. "It shouldn't take me longer than a few minutes."

"We'll be good," Xander answered with a bright grin. Their teacher looked hesitant, probably not all that comfortable leaving them unattended, even for a few minutes, but he eventually left the classroom to take care of adult stuff. "So," Xander said as he slowly popped open the top of the box that contained the Legos, "what do you want to build?"

Lex pondered that as they both started pulling out Lego blocks. "How about a castle?"

"Like the one that Greckle had to enter when he found the dragon?" Xander asked excitedly.

Lex nodded, and they got started on putting together the castle. They both reached into the box for more pieces when a head suddenly appeared out of nowhere. Xander released a startled shout as he scrambled behind Lex, clinging onto his friend. "It's okay, Xan," Lex said, trying to encourage the raven haired boy to come out from behind him, and more importantly to stop squeezing him so tightly. "Cujo," Lex gave the green dog a stern look, trying to mimic his father, "you're not supposed to be out."

The arms hesitantly loosened. "You," Xander sounded confused, "know this thing?" He pulled his arms from around his friend but kept his hands clutched at Lex's red shirt.

"He's a dog." Lex patted his lap, and the little puppy trotted free of the box. Cujo balanced his paws on the boy's legs as his purple tongue licked happily at Lex's cheek. "See? He's nice and friendly." Lex grinned at his friend as he scratched behind one of Cujo's ears.

"But," Xander frowned, daring to stop using Lex as a shield, "why is he green?" He reached out a hand to the dog, but he looked ready to snap it away at any second if he thought the dog would try to bite him. "And why could he walk through the Legos like they weren't even there?" A laugh bubbled out of him when the cold wet nose bumped against the palm of his hand as the dog sniffed it.

"Uh," Lex stalled as he looked away. His father always warned him about not letting anyone know about their ghost powers. It was a secret that needed to stay within their family. But how was he supposed to keep the secret when the uncontrollable Cujo popped up randomly in front of someone outside the family? "Um, okay. Don't freak out."

"Why would I freak out?" Xander tilted his head in confusion. He had gotten used to the puppy now and was giving him a nice belly rub with both hands scratching at the exposed belly.

"Um, well," Lex twisted the hem of his shirt in nervousness. "Okay! You know that video you like?" After Xander nodded, Lex continued, "Ghosts are, um, real."

Xander's mouth dropped open as he went completely still. "What?" he gasped out, hardly believing what his friend said.

"Cujo is a ghost." Lex almost knotted his shirt with how much he twisted it. "He's a friendly ghost, so you don't have to be scared of him. He just likes to come around and play sometimes."

"You have a ghost dog?" Xander's disbelief suddenly shifted into excitement. "That's so cool!"

Lex felt some relief washing over him. "But you can't tell anyone about him. Cujo's a secret." Then he grinned as the notion entered his head. "It can be a secret between just you and me. Something that only we know about."

"So," Xander tilted his head, "he'll be like my ghost dog too?" Cujo suddenly rolled back onto his feet as his ears perked up, and both boys could hear the footsteps nearing the classroom. "Oh no! That'll be Uncle Kwan." He gave the dog a push. "You gotta leave now, Cujo." The dog looked at them in confusion.

"We can play later, Cujo," Lex promised as he made shooing motions at the dog. "But you can't be seen by our teacher." Cujo whined but slowly sank through the floor and disappeared before their teacher entered the classroom.

"I just saw your father coming down the hall, Lex," he announced, smiling at the boys as he walked over to his desk. "And once I finish up here, we can head home, Xander."

"Remember. You can't tell your dad or him," Lex warned, pointing at their teacher.

"I won't." Xander smiled as he started piling the Legos back into the box. "It's our secret, after all."

With relief flooding through him, Lex helped put away the Legos. He was happy that they could keep it quiet because he was sure his father wouldn't be happy to know about that slip up, but at least he only said that ghosts were real. He didn't tell Xander anything about his half ghost status. A grin spread onto his face. The idea of sharing a secret with Xander was a little exciting to him. He only had secrets with his family, so it was nice having one with his friend.


	21. Chapter 21

"You don't really have to come walk me home every night," Paulina said as she walked down the hall with the ebony haired woman at her side. A week already passed since their first encounter, and each day, Paulina was surprised to find Desiree suddenly appear at her work. She hardly considered herself some damsel in need of rescuing, but she liked having someone to talk with when she was on her way home from the fashion design studio where she worked after her photo shoots as a model. Since she often spent time out of town, traveling to various locations for shoots, she never really saw a reason to own a car. Her apartment wasn't a very long walk from the fashion design studio, and normally she never had any trouble from studio to apartment building. Until Tyler decided to rear his stupid face again. Her hand clenched tightly around her key as she unlocked the door to her apartment.

"And let that jerk have another chance to attack you?" Desiree questioned with a frown marring her pretty face. She followed Paulina into the apartment, which became the usual since that day, though Paulina didn't mind it since she enjoyed talking with the other woman. "If he even thinks about showing his face again," she held up a fist, knuckles turning white, "he'll regret it."

Paulina frowned thoughtfully as she closed the door. After hanging up her jacket, she walked over to curl up on the couch in the main area of her small apartment. "Did you have boyfriends like that in your past?" It wasn't a topic they strayed into much over the week. It almost seemed like one of those taboo subjects that they had to carefully step around to avoid a social faux pas. She pulled out her sketch book which she kept all her designs in and flipped to a clean page.

"I suppose you could say that," Desiree mumbled as she examined some of the pictures on the wall. "The men in my life haven't exactly been," she turned her head to glance over her shoulder at Paulina as she frowned, "very kind to me."

The pencil stopped in the middle of her sketch of a human figure as Paulina stared at the woman. It made sense, the anger Desiree showed when she saw a man hurting another woman, after hearing that statement. If she walked by and caught sight of a man abusing a woman, Paulina didn't think she could stand for it after being hurt by a man. She had a mean right hook, according to Dash, but she no longer liked having to resort to violence if she could avoid it.

"I'm sorry." Paulina lowered her gaze, hoping she hadn't ruined their friendship by stepping into the taboo subject. "I guess good men are hard to find."

"Or maybe we're just looking in all the wrong places." Desiree returned to the couch and sat down next to Paulina. Leaning over, she glanced at what the Hispanic woman was working on, though it was still a very sketchy outline of a woman's body before she got into the details of the dress idea that was forming in her mind. "Though sometimes a guy can really surprise you."

Paulina blinked emerald eyes as a delicate brow lifted in curiosity. "Any guy in particular there?" Her gaze dropped back to her sketch book, and she began drawing the lines of the dress, imaging flowing white material for it.

"Hm," Desiree leaned back, drawing her legs up to fold under her as she watched Paulina work, "there was one." She grinned, and one look into those brown eyes told Paulina that the woman was remembering her time with the mystery man. "It's probably hard to imagine, but Dan and I were once an item."

"What?" Paulina gasped, slapping the sketch book down against her legs as she openly gawked at the woman, who had amusement playing across her face. She couldn't even process the idea of the two of them being a couple. Desiree and Dan got along quite well when they hung out with Paulina after that encounter with Tyler, but Paulina thought they were only good friends, like the way she was with Dash and Kwan.

Desiree laughed at the reaction. "I know it seems a bit strange." She reached up and pushed a lock of her long ebony hair behind an ear as a fond smile spread over her face. "But that was probably the best relationship I've had so far. Dan was," she frowned, searching for words, "not always a very good man. I was very hesitant to even be around him at first with his reputation. But we were both hanging out at Danny's house at the same time, and we sort of hit things off and started hanging out together. After all the," she huffed out a breath, "bad experiences I've had with men, I didn't even want to think about being intimate with someone. And you've met Dan. He kind of has that-" her mouth pursed in thought.

"Attitude that makes him seem like that type of guy that would force a woman into sex even if she doesn't really want to do it?" Paulina supplied when the woman seemed be having a hard time putting her thoughts into words.

"So you got that feel too?" Desiree grinned. "But yes, I feared that was exactly the sort of thing he would do. He was actually, surprisingly, patient with me. Kissing, he could sometimes overstep boundaries with, and groping too. But sex? He wouldn't cross that line without my consent, and I think that's why I eventually felt comfortable enough around him to actually be that intimate again. So not all men are horrible, and some that look like the bad boy can be surprisingly gentle."

Paulina stared at the other woman, almost not able to believe anything she just said. But that was simply another example of not being able to judge a book by its cover. Tyler seemed all nice and gentlemanly on their first date, but it quickly snowballed from there to the point that his need for attention and rough nature ended with her having a broken arm. Dan had that vibe about him that gave him that bad boy look. The leather jacket he wore probably helped with that image. But it was hard to envision him having a gentle side to him, especially when he clearly threatened Tyler to leave her alone.

"So why did you break up?" Paulina wondered curiously. "It sounds like you two had a pretty good relationship. And you still get along pretty well."

"It was fun with him. I really enjoyed our time together. But," Desiree frowned like she couldn't think of how to explained the reason behind the break up, "I guess we just wanted different things." Her brow pinched as her frown deepened. "It's not like we had some horrible blow out of an argument that took forever to patch up. We just realized that being together, we were pretty much just trying to fill a void in our lives, but while we liked each other, we didn't _love_ each other. Neither of us wanted to simply settle on someone just because they were there and we got along, so we decided it was best to end that part of our relationship to allow us the chance to find someone that we _do_ love."

"I guess that does make sense." Paulina nodded, thinking about how she wouldn't want to settle simply for the first good person in her life if there wasn't love between them. Then she turned a smile onto the woman. "But it's great that you were able to stay such good friends with him." She tilted her hand, silky smooth hair falling past one shoulder as she pondered things. "So what's Dan's deal with Kwan? He seemed eager to find out information about him." Her mouth thinned as she recalled Dan asking about Kwan, obviously trying to weasel out some information from her. Desiree might trust the man, but Paulina still didn't know all that much about Danny's cousin. But even if she knew him better, Paulina wouldn't betray her friend and reveal private information to Dan.

"Kwan, hm?" Desiree's grin turned rather wicked as she repeated the name. "So that's who got Dan all distracted recently."

"I'm not sure I like the sound of that," Paulina admitted, frowning as she tapped her pencil against the sketch book. "If he's interested in Kwan," she shook her head, "that might end badly." Sadness filled her emerald gaze as the memories flooded back into her head. Maybe she shouldn't have insisted that Dan should talk to Kwan himself if he was so curious about him, but if Dan decided to cross the line, Kwan would probably never forgive him for it.

"Dan's a dick," Desiree stated blunted. "He enjoys doing things and saying things that provoke a reaction out of someone. He gets people pissed at him a lot of the time. You can ask Danny, and he'll tell you a thousand stories of how Dan pissed him off. But I think he has a lot of the same traits that Danny has. When he cares about someone, he can be fiercely protective of them. And I imagine if he were to ever feel love for someone, he'll fight for it and do everything in his power to make that person happy."

Paulina turned the woman's story over in her head, twirling the pencil in her hand. If Dan truly was a patient and gentle lover, maybe things would turn out all right for them. But Paulina couldn't ignore that cold sense of dread coiling inside her at just how badly the whole thing could go if Dan approached Kwan in the wrong way. Coming on too strongly could backfire horribly for Dan and leave Kwan hurt even more.

"Well, you let him know that if he hurts Kwan," Paulina raised a fist, "he'll have me to deal with."

Desiree laughed, but Paulina didn't get that feeling that she was being laughed at. "Trust me. If Dan messes things up with Kwan, I'll beat some sense into that thick skull of his."

Paulina smiled, somehow a small portion of her fears unraveling the tension inside her. She was very happy that Desiree wasn't simply going to side with Dan because of their relationship. With a sigh, she dropped her gaze to the sketch book and the partially drawn dress. "You know," she said with a frown as she touched pencil to paper again, "I never really gave it any thought before. Not until bumping into him again. But sometimes I think - I wish I could meet a nice guy like Danny." Hearing a snap of fingers, she turned her gaze to the other woman, confusion dancing in her eyes as she stared at the surprise on Desiree's face. "What was that?"

"I, uh-" Desiree leaned away from Paulina. She frowned as she lowered her gaze to her hand. "You were saying something about Danny?"

"Oh, right! Danny seems like such a sweet and caring guy," Paulina explained, though that odd moment nagged at her mind. "And I just think," she sighed, shaking her head, "that's the kind of guy I should be looking for. A guy that's going to treat me like an actual person and listen to my opinions. I don't expect things to always be a bed of roses. People have different opinions and that can lead to arguments. But I doubt Danny ever lifted a hand to Sam because she had a different opinion than he did."

"Danny is a surprisingly nice guy," Desiree said as she smoothed out the fabric of her skirt. "We didn't always get along, but he believes a lot in second chances. I think that's why he's able to draw people to him. Because no matter what you've done in the past, if you show you're capable of becoming a better person, he'll be there to support you in that."

"How did you meet Danny?" Paulina glanced at the woman, her attention to her work straying far too frequently. Desiree was quite attractive, and she could probably have any pick of men she wanted. Paulina wondered if Sam ever got jealous with Danny knowing a woman like Desiree.

"Oh, we've known each other for years now," Desiree answered with a smile tugging at her mouth. "I was a much different person back then." A knock at the door interrupted their conversation.

"Who could that be?" Paulina wondered in a mumble as she set the sketch book aside and got up to answer the door. When she opened it, she blinked at the man before her. "Can I help you?"

His mouth stretched into a shy smile as he rubbed at the back of his neck. He stood several inches taller than she. "Um, this is going to sound really stupid," he said with an embarrassed chuckle, dropping his hands to shove them into the pockets of his jeans, "but I got locked out of my place." He rolled eyes as blue as the sky. "I know how lame that sounds, but I stepped out for, like, a second, and when I turned to go back in, the door closed and locked behind me." He hunched his shoulders as he laughed. "Pretty dumb, huh? But no one else seems to be in. I tried a few of the other doors on our floor, but you're the first to answer. Do you mind if I use your phone so I can call a locksmith? The apartment manager doesn't appear to be in."

"Oh, sure. Come on in." Paulina stepped aside, opening the door wider to allow the man to enter.

"How rude of me! I'm Steven Beland." He held out a hand.

"Paulina Reyes." She grinned as she shook his hand. "The phone is just over there." She pointed to where the phone sat on the side table next to the couch.

"Oh, you have a guest." Steven winced while Paulina closed the door after he entered the apartment. "I'm sorry. I'm interrupting."

"It's fine. I was just leaving anyway," Desiree announced as she got up and walked toward the door.

"You don't have to go," Paulina said, frowning when Desiree opened the door. Steven already crossed the room to make the phone call.

"It's getting pretty late anyway." With a grin, Desiree leaned in close to Paulina and whispered so the man couldn't overhear her. "Who knows? Maybe that's your dream guy right there?"

"What? No," Paulina responded, laughing in disbelief at the idea as a blush crept onto her cheeks. "Dream guys don't just appear because you wish they would."

Desiree shrugged with a mysterious look about her. "You never know. I'll see you later." She pulled the door closed as she left the apartment. Paulina stared at the door, her brow pinching in confusion. Desiree almost seemed like she knew something that Paulina didn't.

"The locksmith is sending someone right over," Steven announced, yanking Paulina from her thoughts. When she turned around and stared at him, she had to admit he was rather handsome with his darkish brown hair slicked back. "Uh, I hope you don't mind, but I gave them your apartment number." He turned his gaze away, awkwardness and embarrassment warring in his expression. "I can go wait in the hallway though. I don't want to be a bother."

Paulina opened her mouth then closed it again. It would be rude to throw him out and make him wait for the locksmith in the hall. "Nonsense," she said as she walked over to her kitchen area. "Do you want something to drink?"

"Water is fine. Did you do this?"

Paulina turned her head as she got down a glass from the cabinet. She flushed lightly when she saw him looking at her sketch book. "It's just a doodle I was working on." She poured water from the faucet into the glass before carrying it over to him.

"It's very good. Are you a designer?" Steven set the sketch book back where he found it as he took the glass she offered him.

"I'd like to be. I'm trying to get a spot in a showcase coming up, but I have a lot of work to do before everything is ready." Paulina sat down on the couch, hoping she wasn't blushing too badly.

"That's pretty incredible." Steven joined her then took a sip from the glass. "I'm just your average banker. It's a pretty boring job, but the pay is good."

"And you live here?" Paulina raised an eyebrow at him, imaging that he made enough to afford a much better apartment. She could afford something far better with her salary as a model, but traveling for shoots made having some big, fancy apartment seem rather pointless.

"Well, I probably could, yes," Steven agreed with a chuckle. "But being single, I haven't really seen much reason to have a place bigger than what I have here. Maybe if I ever got a girlfriend and we moved in together, I would get a bigger place. But for now, I'm content where I am."

Paulina nodded, seeing the sense in what the man said. As they talked, Paulina thought back to what Desiree said about Steven being her dream man. But that couldn't be possible! Dream men didn't suddenly appear in real life. That was why they were called _dream_ men. But the man, so far, seemed nice. He was handsome, but not in that flashy way as the men she normally dated from work. He made her laugh with some of his jokes. He didn't seem to recognize her from her modeling pictures though they were shown in a number of magazines. It was... very nice talking with him like two normal people without any expectations of ulterior motives. Maybe he could be the right man for her. It wouldn't hurt to give him a chance, at least.


	22. Chapter 22

"Kick it over here," Danny called, waving his hands to get his son's attention.

"No, kick it back to me," Dan encouraged with a cocky smirk. They stood several feet apart from each other while Lex stood across from them. He glanced between the two adults, debating to whom to kick the soccer ball. He pulled back his foot then gave the ball a kick. The ball rolled forward, crossing the distance between Lex and his father, but it fell short of reaching the man.

"That was a good try," Danny said as he walked forward a few steps to the soccer ball. "You just need to put a little more strength into your kicks." He deftly returned the ball to his son, who practiced how to stop the ball without sending it flying off in another direction. It almost worked.

"So were you going to tell me more about what Kwan was like those last three years of high school?" Dan questioned as Lex chased after the ball.

"I thought I told you to leave him alone." Danny shot his evil future an annoyed glare. He hadn't seen Dan since the birthday party, and that fact worried him when Dan showed up suddenly to start asking about Kwan again. "What's your interest in him anyway? Because this obsessive nature you seem to be showing is reminding me an awful lot of how Vlad used to go after my mother."

"Well, I am half Vlad," Dan reminded with a roll of dark blue eyes. "How do you know what I feel for him isn't something real? You can't argue that I don't know enough about him to like him because I have your memories up until the CAT. And I can still feel an attraction to someone without knowing them. And that's the whole reason I'm asking about him. To get to know the Kwan that differs from my time."

"I'd tell you to ask him yourself, but you'd probably be a jerk about it and make him angry at you." Danny narrowed his bright blue eyes, wondering somewhere in his mind if Dan would ever grow out of his childish behavior. Or at the very least tone it down enough that he didn't anger everyone in the general vicinity.

"Uncle Dan!" Lex called as he kicked the ball to him. It rolled almost all the way to Dan, who returned it, somehow remembering to hold back enough not to send the ball sailing through the air and across the park.

"I'd like to point out that we got along fairly well when I visited him last Sunday," Dan said, frowning as he folded his arms over his broad chest.

"What?" Danny gasped out and gawked at his evil future. "Are you insane?" He really wondered what was wrong with Dan when he constantly did things to stir up trouble. "Did you even think before going over there?" He returned the ball his son kicked toward him with a little more strength than he meant to, and Lex had to give chase to it as the ball rolled toward where some other children were playing.

"I went over there to try to make things right," Dan huffed grumpily at the accusation in Danny's voice. "I apologized."

"You," Danny laughed, hardly believing those words, "apologized? And you _didn't_ burst into flames?"

Dan sneered and mock laughed in response. "I am capable of it. I just never see any reason to apologize for my actions."

Danny raised an eyebrow, almost wondering what sort of trick his evil future was trying to play. "So what makes Kwan so special?"

Dan shrugged as he put a foot out and caught the ball that was kicked toward him. "I don't know. I just felt something when we met that day I picked up Lex from the school." He returned the ball to the boy. "At first, it was just fun teasing him. Making him squirm with a simple comment. But I was really jealous when I saw that floozy flirting with him."

"So you act like an impulsive-" Danny caught himself as he glanced toward his son who was preparing to kick the soccer ball again. "I can tell you right now that being too aggressive can be a real turn off. Don't push too hard, especially if it's something he doesn't want to talk about, or you'll just end up driving him away."

Dan scratched a hand through his hair, watching as Danny flipped the ball up into the air and caught it. "I get that. I know he has one topic that he doesn't want to talk about," he frowned, "that's kind of driving me crazy because I want to understand him and understand why he's so," his mouth pursed in thought, "reluctant about giving me the chance. Beyond," he added quickly when Danny opened his mouth, "that mistake I made."

"You're just going to have to wait," Danny said, though he knew it could be frustrating when someone else wasn't ready to talk about something. "You have to remember to take his feelings into account. If you ignore that and push, push, push, he's just going to shut down toward you and you'll never get any answers out of him." He turned his attention to his son. "Let's work on some head bumps." He tossed the ball lightly to his son, and Lex tried to position himself to bump the ball back with his head. His coordination wasn't very good, and the ball glanced off the side of his head.

"I was hoping you would tell me something about Kwan from this timeline after the CAT so next time I see him, I have some ideas of what to talk about," Dan grumbled as he shoved his hands into the pockets of his jeans. "It's hard to talk when a lot of my knowledge about him comes from my timeline."

Danny rolled his eyes before landing his gaze back on his evil future. "Sorry but no. You're just going to have to suffer learning about someone like everyone else: by actually talking to the person." He caught the ball that his son tossed back to him as Dan frowned like a grouch at the response he was given. Throwing the ball again for his son to try the head bump, Danny tried to ignore that sense of weirdness curling inside him over the whole topic of this conversation. If it was anyone else, Danny wouldn't be concerned at all about someone confessing they liked Kwan. But the fact that it was Dan made his mind spin. He wasn't gay, and from how Vlad obsessed over his mother, he could bet the older half ghost wasn't gay either. How did an evil version of them fused together turn out to be gay?

A shiver ran through him as Danny gasped. He sent a glance toward Dan, who wore a frown with his head turned away, clearly searching for whatever set off their ghost sense. When he reached out, he could feel two other ghosts present in the area beyond the three of them.

"Dad! Dad!" Lex stumbled over, carrying the soccer ball. "I felt it!" He wore a proud grin as he stared up at his father.

Danny sighed internally because that was one of the problems with his son having ghost powers: whenever a ghost popped up nearby, Lex would be able to sense it too. After his conversation with Skulker, Danny knew it was important for Lex to be able to take care of himself in a fight. He wouldn't always be around his son, like when Lex attended school, which would give any ghost the opportunity to attack his son. That kind of thinking always chilled him to his core. He wanted to protect his son, but the best way, he realized, was by enabling his son to defend himself against a ghost attack. That, however, didn't mean he liked dragging his son into potentially dangerous situations when he could avoid it.

"Dan, could you take Lex home while I deal with this?" Danny asked, ignoring the whine from his son.

"But, Dad!"

"Come on, Tyrannosaurus Lex." Dan lifted the boy into his arms. "Your dad's just a stick in the mud and wants you to miss out on all the fun."

"Dan," Danny growled, narrowing his eyes as they flashed green.

"I was only joking." Grinning like a madman, Dan rolled his eyes. "I'm sure Lex knows you only worry about him and want to keep him safe. Tell you what, Lex," he said as he turned his grin onto the boy. "We'll do a little training of our own at home. I can teach you a bunch of cool tricks you can do with your powers."

"Dan, I swear if you teach him anything bad," Danny warned threateningly.

"I'll keep it to the basics." Dan shook his head, like he couldn't believe how uptight Danny was being about this. "He's not ready to learn anything beyond that until he's mastered the basics. Even I realize that. But he's eight now, Danny. You've got to start picking up the pace on his training. He's not going to be a child forever. Teenage years are coming, and you know what that means."

Danny knew exactly what that meant. He could remember his teenage years all too well, and having ghost powers only made it easier for him to do things like sneak out of the house after hours. He really wasn't looking forward to when Lex became a teenager and started becoming rebellious. But he could understand Dan's point. It would be better for Lex to have control over his powers by the time he was a teenager, so that he didn't have any slip ups the same way Danny did during his freshmen year. So far, he was lucky that his son didn't accidentally activate his ghost powers while at school. Or at least, he never got caught.

"You better hurry off to deal with those ghosts before they start causing a mess of trouble for you," Dan said as he started walking out of the park with Lex.

Danny groaned at the reminder as he went in search of a place to transform. Part of him really hoped that he wouldn't have to worry too much about ghost threats when he moved to a new town, but he realized that no matter where he went, ghosts would always be around, even if they weren't coming through his Portal. Ghosts had naturally existing portals that opened and closed randomly. Some ghosts came to exist in the real world after their human lives ceased, never crossing into the Ghost Zone, or even knowing of its existence.

When he found a safe place, a restroom in a little building in the park, Danny transformed into his ghost form. His usual suit looked mostly the same with the white boots and gloves, but the black he softened to gray. While that change didn't do a whole to make him look different from his original outfit, he decided to add a darker gray cloak that hung to his waist, though the side parts separated by slits draped down arms and reached past his knees. He wore goggles that were shaded to hide the brilliant green of his eyes. Ember still wanted to help with his hair, but Danny refused after she turned his hair green. It was now back to being white, but he slicked it back, which according to Valerie and Elle did a lot to make him look less recognizable.

Turning invisible, Danny phased through the wall of the rest room then followed his ghost sense toward the two ghosts that interrupted the soccer practice he was having with his son. He scowled as he flew. Couldn't ghosts leave him alone and let him spend quality time with his son? But he sighed, knowing that ever since the accident, ghosts were a part of his life that could never be ignored. Ghosts would always exist, and as long as they continued causing trouble in the real world, Danny would have to step up to fight them.

Danny reached the location where he sensed the ghosts, readying himself for a fight. "All right, you-" He halted when he spied who the two ghosts were. Folding his arms, he frowned down at the pair of ghosts. "Do your parents know you're here, Box Lunch?"

The young girl was only eleven and still wore the overalls that he remembered from when Clockwork pulled her from Dan's timeline. Actually, other than looking several years older, her appearance was basically identical, though her pigtails were a little longer now. She had a bit of pudginess to her, but she still looked adorable.

"We're just having fun," Youngblood said, still possessing a squeaky voice, even though he started to age his appearance along with Box Lunch and now looked to be eleven also, but in aging himself, he lost the whole "only children can see him" effect that he had back when Danny was fourteen. "Something _you've_ never known anything about." He stuck out his tongue in a childish display. Today he was dressed up like a samurai, including his green hair styled with a topknot.

Danny gawked at the boy. "Fun?" he growled, his hands clenched into fists that glowed green under his cloak. "When did I have time to have fun after I got my ghost powers? I had to deal with all of you attacking my town. Not to mention my parents running around trying to capture me so that they could destroy me molecule by molecule and living under their roof while being terrified of what other crazy things their inventions might do to me. I didn't exactly have the privilege of being able to have fun all the time like you."

"Man, I told you he was such a downer," Youngblood grumbled to Box Lunch. "I tried to loosen him up a bit back in the day," he added, trying to sound important as he folded his arms, "but he was too rigid, just like an adult."

Danny rolled his eyes behind the shaded goggles. "If I acted like an adult back then, I wouldn't have been able to even see you."

"Oh yeah," Youngblood mumbled like that fact only just dawned on him.

"We're not up to anything bad," Box Lunch said with all the sweetness of honey as she smiled at him. "Youngblood just wanted to show me around. Mom and Dad can be so overprotective sometimes." She pouted, and Danny suspected she was trying to gain his sympathy.

"Because they care about you. And you," Danny snapped his gaze to Youngblood as he placed his hands on his hips with a disapproving stare, "Box Ghost and Lunch Lady are going to forbid Box Lunch from seeing you if you keep sneaking her out for adventures in the real world."

"Aw, come on, Mr. Phantom!" Youngblood begged. "Just for a little while?"

Danny sighed tiredly. When did he become the babysitter for all ghosts? Wasn't being a relationship counselor enough? "Okay. You can have one," he raised up a finger, "hour, but then it's back to the Ghost Zone. _And_ ," he added before the two young ghosts could cheer, "I'll be watching over you so that you don't get into any trouble." That condition earned him some groans, but Youngblood and Box Lunch seemed happy that they got to play around in the real world, even if it was only for an hour.


	23. Chapter 23

"What's wrong?" Dash frowned over at his friend while he poured the macaroni into a large glass pan to bake it in the oven once he added some breadcrumbs sprinkled on top of it.

Kwan sighed tiredly as he scooped up and dumped the freshly chopped lettuce for the salad into the large ceramic bowl. He tossed a glance over at Xander, who was sitting on the floor behind them as he doodled on paper with his crayons. "I was just thinking about last weekend."

Dash's brow knitted as he looked over his friend's body language, spying some tension in those broad shoulders. "Do I need to hunt someone down and make them pay?" he asked quietly in a very serious tone.

Kwan shook his head as he grabbed a tomato and started slicing it up for the salad. "It's fine." But the frown and look in his aqua green eyes worried his friend. "It's just-" He sighed again, setting down the knife as he turned to face Dash. "Dan visited me on Sunday."

"What?" Dash growled, teeth grinding painfully at the mention of Fenton's cousin. "I warned him to leave you alone."

"Dash, you don't always have to play protector to me. It's fine," Kwan insisted. "I just wasn't expecting him to show up like that." Picking up the knife again, he returned to slicing the tomato. "And he kissed me again."

"Kwan, you're not making me want to go have words with him any less." Dash grabbed the container of breadcrumbs, struggling not to crush it in his hand.

"And by words, you actually mean with your fists." Kwan rolled his eyes with a ghost of a smile. "The thing is," he shook his head as he added the tomato slices into the bowl, "I should be pissed at him, angry at him for kissing me like that, and yet," he shrugged a shoulder as he frowned in uncertainty, "I don't hate him."

"I don't like him." Dash opened the oven door then slid the glass pan onto the rack inside the oven. Dan rubbed him the wrong way after their first meeting, and his opinion didn't improve the morning after Xander slept over at Fenton's house. "You've been avoiding men ever since college. I get that. You want a family of your own, and for that, you'd need a woman. But I think you're just running away from whom you really are. And maybe," he closed the oven door as he stood up again, "you're not as angry at Dan as you think you should be because on some level you realize you like him."

"I barely even know him," Kwan argued as he started slicing up mushrooms.

Dash rolled his dark blue eyes. "That's why people start dating: to better get to know each other. And if you push him away on that flimsy excuse, you're going to end up alone. Kwan, I want you to be happy. Even if I don't really like the guy you're attracted to. But as long as he treats you right, I won't have a reason to have my fist meet his face. Multiple times."

"So you're saying that I should start dating him?"

"Yes. I'm saying you should give him the chance." Dash huffed out a breath, not believing that he was actually encouraging his friend to date Fenton's cousin. "Do you really want to pass this up when you might regret letting him get away later?"

"But-"

"No," Dash said firmly as he caught Kwan's arm. "Stop trying to look for an excuse. You're going to make yourself miserable like this. Stop listening to that annoying little voice that I know is yakking away in your brain right now that's telling you Dan is just going to be like that guy back in college. Has he done anything beyond kissing you yet?"

Kwan frowned as his aqua green eyes slid away from his friend. "No," he answered, "and he did promise that he wouldn't do anything if I wasn't ready."

"Then stop trying to sabotage yourself. If he's willing to wait for you to be ready, then I say that makes him sound like a pretty good catch." Dash wiped his hands cleaned when the sound of the doorbell echoed through the house.

"Lex!" Xander cried happily as he jumped to his feet and raced toward the front door.

"Was Lex spending the night?" Kwan blinked in surprise.

"Ah, yeah," Dash rubbed at the back of his neck, "we planned it last weekend. Since Lex couldn't spend the night last Saturday, we decided to do it this Saturday." He walked toward the front of the house with his friend trailing behind him. Xander was already standing at the front door, trying to open it. "Xander," Dash said sternly as he laid a hand on top of his son's raven hair, "you know you're not supposed to open the door."

"But it's Lex!" Xander pouted but stepped back out of the way as his father opened the door for him. As soon as it started to open, the little blond boy pushed his way inside and Xander eagerly latched onto him like they hadn't seen each other in months. Dash bit back a chuckle when he noted the shirt his son's friend wore: it was the Phantom shirt that he sewed for Lex's birthday present.

"Well, I guess I'll get out of your hair," Kwan said, patting his friend on the shoulder as he passed on his way out the door. "Sounds like you've got plans for a fun night."

"Oh, you don't have to go because of me," Fenton said. "I was just dropping Lex off. Then I was probably just going to head home. Or maybe pick up some coffee."

"But I want Mr. Lex's Daddy to stay too," Xander whined, frowning up at his friend's father.

"Guess that means you should stay." Kwan grinned, giving Fenton a shove into the house. "Wouldn't want to make Xander sad after he's taken such a liking to you."

"Well, if Xander insists, I guess I have no choice," Fenton said as he placed his hands on his hips and grinned down at the boy, gaining a cheer from Xander.

"I'll see you later," Dash said, waving his friend off before closing the door. "Well, dinner should be almost ready. Just a few more minutes in the oven and the rest of the veggies for the salad to chop up."

"If you need any help," Fenton offered as he hooked the straps of his son's backpack on the railing of the staircase before he followed them toward the kitchen. His bright blue eyes swept around the house, and that slight nervousness about him made him look more like a teenager scared witless about being in his bully's house than a grown man.

"It's just a few mushrooms to finish slicing," Dash explained. "But you can start setting things out for dinner. Xander can show you where things are." He took over the spot where Kwan stood before their guests arrived and picked up the knife to finish slicing mushrooms for the salad.

"The plates are up there," Xander said and probably pointed to the cupboard where they were kept.

Dash shook his head as he listened to them, the clatter of plates as Fenton pulled them from the shelf and the clang of silverware as they were taken from the drawer. Xander then showed Fenton to where the dining table was so that he could lay out the plates and silverware for them. After adding the last of the mushrooms to the salad, Dash walked to the doorway of the dining room and leaned against the frame.

"Any particular dressing you like on your salad?" Dash asked as he watched Lex and Xander follow Fenton around like two little puppies.

"Honey mustard!" Lex shouted out, pausing when they passed in front of where Dash stood.

"No, you don't." Fenton rolled his eyes. "Ranch dressing should be fine."

"Can we look at the stars again tonight?" Xander asked as he tugged on the man's pants leg.

A smile twisted onto his face as Dash returned to the kitchen to grab the ranch dressing from the refrigerator. After he closed the door, he turned around and jolted to a halt when he spotted Lex standing in front him. It almost made Dash think of those horror movies where the protagonist turned around to find a creepy little child in front of him and then after blinking, the child disappeared. He blinked unconsciously, half expecting Lex to vanish from where he stood.

"Do you need something?" Dash questioned as he stepped around the boy and returned to the counter to drizzle some of the ranch dressing over the salad.

"Um," Lex mumbled, following after the man. He leaned his back against the counter and stared down at the floor as he fiddled with the hem of his shirt. "When is Xan's birfday?"

Dash blinked as he twisted the cap back onto the bottle of dressing. It kept striking him as odd when Lex suddenly had these shy moments around him, but after claiming to dislike the man, it was probably difficult for Lex to ask him anything. "It's May fifth," Dash answered with a crooked grin and a bit of pride swelling in his chest that Lex could push back his dislike to actually speak with him. "Why do you ask?"

"Well, I, um," Lex worried his lower lip before turning his head up to stare at Dash, "wanted to give him something special since he made me the doll."

"I'm sure whatever you decide to give him, he'll love it." Dash picked up the ceramic bowl and handed it to Lex. "Take that into the dining room, okay?"

Lex nodded before he headed back into the other room. A moment after he left the kitchen, the timer went off, signaling the macaroni was ready to be taken out of the oven. Once he turned off the timer and oven, he grabbed the oven mitts and removed the macaroni. Placing it on top of the stove, he closed the oven door then grabbed a serving spoon before he picked up the glass pan and carried it into the dining room.

"I hope you like macaroni," Dash said, setting the pan down on the padded cloth in the center of the table.

"Oh, that looks yummy," Fenton said as he pulled the chair out to let his son climb on it. Lex got up on his knees and leaned over the table to get a better look at the dish. When he reached a finger to stick into it, Fenton caught him by the wrist. "Wait to be served. It's still hot so you need to let it cool." Lex pouted as he sat back in his seat.

"Um, um, Mr. Lex's Daddy," Xander mumbled, kicking his legs while Dash worked on serving the macaroni to each of their plates. "Um, what sports does Lex play?"

"Soccer!" Lex answered, grinning as Fenton doled out some salad onto each of their plates.

"Do you play any sports, Xander?" Fenton asked, and the raven haired boy shook his head.

"No, but he was thinking about playing since it seemed like Lex was interested in sports," Dash explained. "Uh, drinks? What do you want?"

"Milk should be fine for Lex. I'll just have water," Fenton answered as he sat down at the other end of the table. "So you're taking an interest in sports now?"

As he left the room to pour glasses of milk and water, Dash heard his son answer, "I want to play with Lex!" He had no doubts that Xander was grinning brightly as he spoke.

"You never had interests in sports before?" Fenton questioned, sounding rather surprised.

"Well, um, Daddy played sports, but he always says it's my choice," Xander explained.

Dash picked up the four glasses and carried them carefully into the dining room. "I just didn't want him to feel like I was forcing him into it." He set the glasses down, the two glasses of milk went before the boys and the two waters went in front his and Fenton's places. "But as he so wisely pointed out," Dash ruffled his son's hair as he passed back to the head of the table where he normally sat, "he'll never know whether he enjoys playing if he never tries it."

"There's going to be a summer soccer camp. Would you like to join Lex in going to it?" Fenton questioned, smiling at Xander, who happily nodded his head. "I can give you the information I found on it so that you can sign him up."

"Oh, sure. Thanks." Dash still wondered how they could act so civilly toward each other despite their bad history from high school, beyond simply trying to get along for the sake of their children. It wasn't like with some of the parents where it felt fake, talking about meaningless things and making small chat. Dash kept having that strange sense that they were simply old friends that hadn't talked in a long time but could easily pick up from when they last saw each other. It was like all that time he spent bullying Fenton never happened, and Dash almost regretted that it did when Fenton actually seemed like a pretty cool guy. Remembering his talk with Jazz last Saturday, he realized moments like this were probably the best opportunity to better get to know Fenton, when it was only them without the other parents around to interrupt them.

After they finished eating, Fenton helped him put away the leftover macaroni and wash up the dishes while Lex and Xander lay out on the kitchen floor and doodled with each other on the paper that was left there from earlier. When they were finished, they headed into the backyard as it started growing darker and stars appeared twinkling above them. They played outside for a while, Fenton and Dash pretending to be space pirates while Lex and Xander tried to stop their evil tyranny over the sea of stars. Back in high school, Dash would never imagine having this much fun, running around and play fighting with Fenton at his side, having no problem falling into the little game of role playing.

By the time they entered the house again, the boys were stumbling over their feet and yawning widely in exhaustion. "Okay. Off to bed with you two," Dash said as he ushered them to the stairs. The boys protested weakly, but they were too tired to put up much of a fight to stay up late.

"Um," Fenton said hesitantly when they came to the bottom of the stairs, "I guess I should probably head home."

"No," the boys whined, latching onto his legs. "I want Mr. Lex's Daddy to read Greckle again," Xander added, pushing out his lower lip as he stared up at the man.

"Guess you're stuck for it." Dash chuckled as he lifted his son into his arms. Xander whined, waving his arms as he reached for the other man.

Fenton grabbed the backpack from where he left it and followed them upstairs to the bathroom where they helped the boys wash up for bed. The boys were nearly asleep on their feet as they brushed their teeth, and their parents had to help tug on their pajamas before the boys crawled into Xander's bed. Lex happily grabbed hold of the Phantom doll the moment his father pulled it from the backpack. Dash smiled when he saw how much Lex liked the doll. He knew there were some children at that age that would probably not care for such a thing that kind of looked like a mishmash of fabric all sewn together - Jeremy, for one, would never appreciate such a gift - so he was glad that Lex really was happy with the doll. Fenton sat down at the foot of the bed and started telling the tale of Greckle without need of the book. It only took minutes before the two boys were snoring softly in their sleep.


	24. Chapter 24

"Uh, well, I guess since the boys are asleep," Danny said as he followed Dash back down the stairs, trying to be quiet so that no creaks of the steps would wake the boys, "I should probably head out now."

"It's already pretty late," Dash said, shaking his head. "You should just stay over. I mean, I've got an open room. I always offer it to Kwan and Paulina when they come over, though Kwan usually refuses and just heads home." Chuckling, he rubbed at the back of his neck as he reached the bottom of the stairs. "But I mean, well," he rolled his dark blue eyes as he sighed, "I have to admit I was a bit nervous about leaving Xander on his first sleepover. And it's not because of you," Dash added quickly before Danny could even work up a grumpy response. "Xander's never had a sleepover before. And whenever he wakes up from something in the middle of the night, I've always been there for him. So I was worried about how he would react if he had a nightmare and I wasn't there."

Danny frowned, because now that Dash mentioned it, the worry crept into him. The night that Xander slept over at his house, Lex suffered a nightmare, and Danny didn't even need to ask to know what haunted his son's dreams, beyond the occasional ghost clown with razor sharp teeth and one of those water squirting flowers that instead shot out a green goo that could melt stuff like acid. He never cared much for clowns, but even he was completely turned off them after that ghost clown attacked. Clowns weren't the reason that Lex woke up in a cold sweat in the middle of the night and needed to seek comfort from his father before he could fall asleep again. Lowering his gaze, Danny knew because he had those nightmares too. He couldn't imagine how badly things could go if Lex woke up from that and couldn't find his father anywhere to chase away the things that scared him.

"I guess I should probably stay," Danny admitted with a wince. "Uh, let me just grab something from my car."

After Dash opened the door for him, Danny headed toward where his car was parked out front. When he popped open the trunk, Danny grabbed the laptop that sat there. He hadn't anticipated sleeping over as well, but he brought it along with him, thinking maybe after he dropped off Lex, he would head to some small coffee house to do some writing. He could hole himself up at home for days when he was writing, but sometimes it was nice to get out and put himself in new surroundings. Sometimes it could really help with inspiration. With the laptop tucked on his arm, he slammed the trunk shut before heading back into the house. Dash remained standing in the open doorway waiting on his return before he closed the door behind them.

"I hope you don't mind if I do a little work while I'm here." Danny scratched awkwardly at the back of his head as they walked into the front room where they could sit comfortably on the couch. He realized that could maybe seem a little rude, focusing on his work when he was a guest in someone's home. But he had a scene in mind that he wanted to get written down before he forgot it.

"I'm a little surprised you're still awake enough to even think about work." Dash shook his head as he lounged back on the couch. "But if you're going to work," he leaned over the side of the couch to pick something up, "I might as well use the quiet time to get some of my own reading done."

After toeing out of his shoes, Danny drew his legs up under him as he rested the computer in his lap. When he heard the comment, he glanced over at the man, already lifting to top of the computer to start work on his writing. He froze as a warm blush crept onto his cheeks when his eyes landed on the very familiar cover of the book in Dash's hands. "You're, uh," words suddenly failed him as he stared at Dash, who blinked back curiously at him, "reading my book?"

Dash turned the book, glancing at the cover like only now realizing the author's name was the same as the man sitting next to him on the couch. "Yeah, Paulina had a copy of it so she let me borrow it." He tilted his head, scratching behind an ear as an embarrassed flush lightly colored his cheeks. "She wanted me to ask if you would sign it for her."

"Oh, uh," Danny blinked rapidly several times, trying to process that request, "sure. I guess I could do that." He looked around but didn't see a pen handy anywhere near the couch. "Anything in particular I should write?" he questioned as Dash got up and disappeared into another room. When the blond man returned, he handed book and pen to Danny. "I'm not really good with the whole message thing. I usually just put their names and something like 'thanks for reading my novel' or 'to my biggest fan' before signing my name. That seems kind of impersonal though." He frowned as he chewed on the cap of the pen.

"I'm sure anything would be fine." Dash shrugged as he leaned back against the couch again. "I doubt she expects you to write some long heartfelt message to her. Actually, I'm kind of surprised you would want to write any sort of message to her after all the crap we used to do to you and your friends in high school."

"It wasn't all bad though," Danny said, pondering over what to write as he stared at the blank inside cover of the book. "I mean, sure, you guys did some pretty terrible stuff, but it's not like we didn't get some pranks in there too." He grinned as he recalled some of them, like filling Dash's locker with toilet paper, which in retrospect was stupid to use the one with his father's face imprinted into each sheet, or the time he stuffed the frogs down Dash's pants. "And there were those rare occasions when we banded together to do stuff."

"Like saving our parents from evil pirate ghosts?" Dash grinned with a look of reminiscence passing through his eyes. "I still can't believe you managed to step up and take charge like that. But I guess that's why there's so many ghostly elements in your book. With what your parents do, I guess you've heard a million stories about ghosts and had plenty of experience with them."

"Uh, yeah," Danny mumbled awkwardly as he scrawled out a simple "hoping your dreams come true" under Paulina's name before he signed his own name. While he did learn some stuff from his parents, the majority of his knowledge about ghosts came from his hands on experience fighting them and eventually befriending them. "But not all of my stories are about ghosts."

"Well, this is only the first one of your books I've read," Dash admitted as he took the book back from Danny. "But like they say, you write what you know, so it really isn't surprising to see you have some stuff about ghosts."

"That's hardly true." Danny pulled up a new document and started jotting down the random string of scenes that popped into his head. "You've had to have read _Greckle the Dragon Rider_ if your son knows it practically by heart."

Dash nearly bashed the book against his forehead. "I forgot you wrote that." He stared at the man next to him in silent contemplation before speaking again. "How did that all get started anyway? I mean, why did you start writing under another name?"

Danny paused in the middle of typing, hands still posed over the keys as his train of thought ground to halt and shifted to thinking about the questions put to him. "Well, for Greckle, that started because of Lex." He smiled fondly as he thought back on it. "After Lex was born, a few months in, he started having trouble getting to sleep at night. We read him tons of stories, but he kept on crying. So after running out of pretty much all the children's books we owned, I sat down with Lex in my arms and just sort of started rambling out ideas, and it worked. Lex fell asleep in moments. After that, it became a thing, and then Sam started recording my ramblings and insisted that I needed to write it out as an actual story. So I picked at it after I finished working on my novel each day, and when the first story was finished, I handed the manuscript in to my agent. She thought it would be a great children's story but suggested maybe I write under another name so I can keep the two of them separated. Or something like that." He shrugged. "So I just kind of chose Michael Barnes at random. And thus, Greckle's legend was born."

"So what made you choose to become a writer?" Dash questioned, flipping through the book to find his place. "Didn't you want to become an astronaut or something?"

Danny turned his head to blink at the blond man, surprised he would even know about that. "Back in freshmen year, Lancer really helped to open my eyes to writing," he explained as he typed out a few more fragmented thoughts. "At first, I was really annoyed with the whole thing, having to retake the test when something else important was going on, but when I stopped to actually take in what he was saying, I realized how much I liked writing. And, well, after I didn't get into the space program, writing seemed like a good backup plan. Plus with Sam working long hours, it was good for one of us to have a career that allowed us to stay home and watch over Lex after he was born."

"I hardly believe they wouldn't accept you into the space program." Dash stared, his blue eyes nearly bugging out of their sockets. "You can ramble on about the stars and space for at least fifteen long ass textbooks. How can they not accept you?"

"I could perfectly land a simulation space shuttle too." Danny shrugged, remembering the disappointment when the rejection letter arrived in the mail for him. He had spent most of his life dreaming of becoming an astronaut, and while he could travel into space thanks to being half ghost, he still longed for that dream to become real. "But they only accept so many people into the program. I... just wasn't one of the lucky few."

"That-" Dash shook his head, looking like he could hardly believe what Danny told him. "Man, I'm sorry. That totally blows."

"I guess in a way, though, I should be happy. If I was an astronaut, I would probably miss out on a lot of Lex's life while training for missions and then actually going out into space. I do enjoy writing, and I love spending time with my son. So I guess the good outweighs the disappointment of not reaching my dream."

Dash nodded, taking in what Danny said. "I guess there would be disappointment either way. On the one hand," he held out his left hand, "you achieve your dream but you have regrets of missing out in your child's life. On the other hand," he lifted up his right hand, "you don't get to live your dream but you get to have all these wonderful memories with your son." He stared down at both hands then closed his right hand tightly like he was grasping something inside it. "If it were me, I think I would choose family."

"I guess I never really thought about it back then, but having a family was another dream I had." Danny smiled fondly because he would never give up any of his memories of Lex just to become an astronaut. Turning his head, he glanced at Dash. "How did you decide to become a doctor?"

"I guess I have Lancer to thank for that too," Dash admitted, tucking the book between the cushion and armrest. "It was beginning of sophomore year, and Lancer called me into his office. Man, I thought he was going to yell at me for something. But he just wanted to talk, see if I had any thoughts about where I wanted to go to college and what kind of career I thought I might want to pursue. I thought he was kind of crazy at the time. I mean, it was only sophomore year. I had plenty of time to think about it. But after talking to him, I realized my interest in taking care of people. Don't laugh." He pointed a finger at Danny as his eyes narrowed a fraction. "I know it doesn't seem like it, but I was always helping out in football. Whenever my teammates got injured, I'd be right there helping out the medical personnel. And I was always intrigued by how they took care of people when injured or sick. But I didn't decide to become a pediatrician until Xander was born."

"I guess we've both come a long way." Danny laughed, thinking how strange it was for them to be sitting together after everything and talking so easily with each other.

Dash yawned as he stretched his arms over his head. "How are you still able to get work done? I feel like crashing."

"Sam used to say my brain lacks an off switch." Danny shrugged as he finished noting down the last of the ideas that he wanted to be sure he didn't lose. Then he made double sure to save his work before closing down his laptop. "It would drive her crazy whenever I stayed up late to write stuff down. Did you ever have that kind of problem with Xander's mother?"

"Well, we were only together for three months." Dash shrugged, a look crossing his face that Danny couldn't read. "We didn't quite reach that sharing a place phase of the relationship. The only times we spent the night at each other's places was, well, when we decided to have sex. Things weren't really all that great between us in the end. Then nine months after we broke up, Xander arrives on my doorstep."

"Oh." Danny sat forward, feeling like he was just punched in the stomach. He remembered what Lex told him when he came to pick up his son after the fight. The whole reason Lex started the fight with Jeremy and Vincent was because they were teasing Xander about not having a mother. He knew it, but it didn't fully register in his head until right then that Dash was a single father too. "I guess you haven't really had it easy either, huh?"

"Um," Dash sat forward too, and his hand hovered close to Danny's back before he dropped it away from the man, "Paulina told me that Sam died. And I'm really sorry about that. I'm not going to push you about what happened, but, you know, if you need someone to just talk to," he shrugged awkwardly, "I can be a pretty good listener."

"Thanks, Dash. I, um - I appreciate that." Danny was really glad Dash wasn't trying to dig for information about Sam's death. It seemed silly to him, on some level, because it shouldn't be affecting him like this, but realizing Dash was alone and having him mention Sam dying suddenly hit him like a ton of breaks crushing down on him. He hated when these moods hit him. Really hated them. Danny got to his feet, leaving the laptop on the couch. It was hard, trying to keep it all bottled up inside, but if he didn't get out of the room now, he would probably make himself look like fool.

"Hey." Dash caught him by the arms before he could make it to the door. "I know none of this is really any of my business, but if you need to cry, you don't have to leave. I'm not going to laugh at you. Losing someone you really care about is hard. I've never loved someone the way you loved Sam, but I do know you're going to be hurting over her loss all your life. That grief doesn't leave just because a little time has passed. But holding it in can't be good for you."

The tears fell without his consent, somehow the dam breaking upon hearing Dash's words. Danny closed his eyes, refusing to let out the sob forcing a lump up his throat. He could still see the images burned into the back of his eyelids every time they closed. That hollow feeling in his chest hurt so badly that he couldn't find the words for it.

"I should have saved her," he said, his voice cracking. He must have thought that a million times in his head over the years, but the words always seemed to stick in his throat. "It was my fault. We were at the stupid grocery store, and I forgot to grab the eggs. I told her to wait outside. I'd only be a minute. Then I heard the gunshot, and when I rushed back outside, she-" His hands closed into tight fists as he tried to hold back fresh tears. "Lex was screaming, and the blood was just everywhere. If I had just remembered the eggs in the beginning. If I had just decided to pick them up later. If I had just _stayed with her_!"

Danny sank to his knees as the rush of emotions, sorrow, regret, guilt, rage, all broke out like a flood. With a sob, he buried his face in his hands. Everything was his fault. The happy family life he built up with Sam was destroyed in a matter of seconds. And all for what, a dozen eggs? He didn't even register the arms wrapping around him at first, or being pulled against the other man in a comforting hug. He felt utterly lost in his misery as the images replayed in his mind like a broken film stuck on a loop.

"It's not your fault, Danny," Dash whispered, holding the raven haired man like he might a small child that woke up from a nightmare. "You had no way of knowing what would happen that day. You can't blame yourself for something that wasn't your fault."

But it was his fault. Danny couldn't see it any other way. It was his prior actions that led to his enemy deciding to strike at him by attacking someone close to him. But he couldn't explain about that to Dash, not without bringing up questions he couldn't answer, so he settled for simply unloading all of what he let build up for the past three years as he cried against Dash's shoulder.


	25. Chapter 25

"Why exactly are you having a panic attack?" Kwan asked, holding his cell phone trapped between his shoulder and ear as he reached out to pick up one of the prepackaged sandwiches to give it a look over. It was a ham and cheese sandwich, and he squinted at it then made a face as he tossed it back on the shelf. Maybe he would be better off fixing his own dinner, but he wasn't feeling in the mood to do any cooking.

"Because I only just met this guy," Paulina said, and from the sounds reaching through the phone, she was likely hiding out in the bathroom of the restaurant to make the phone call. "He's nice and all, but you know I don't have the greatest track record with guys."

Kwan chuckled as he shook his head, moving through the aisle to look for something to grab for his dinner. "And you know I have a terrible track record all around. But hey, Steven sounds like a normal enough guy. That's definitely a plus." All the men that worked with Paulina, at least when it came to the models that he met through her, tended to be superficial and completely self absorbed.

"But that Dan guy seems pretty interested in you."

Kwan froze at that comment, staring at the selection of salads before him without really seeing them. "What?" he questioned numbly. "How do you even know Dan?"

"I met him last week," Paulina answered, and Kwan could imagine her tilting her head with a look of confusion at his question. "He was asking about you."

Kwan shook his head, deciding to redirect the conversation back onto his friend. "Paulina, you are a bright, intelligent, and as you are very well aware of, drop dead gorgeous woman. If this Steven guy can't see how great you are, then he is a blind idiot and doesn't deserve you. Has he shown you any sign that he's going to turn out like any of your past boyfriends?"

"No." From Paulina's tone, Kwan could almost see her rolling emerald eyes at him. "I'm mean," she continued, "that first night, we spent hours just talking to each other, and it was great. And he's on the handsome side, so that's always a plus. And he's been really nice, and he likes to paint on the weekend. But that's why I'm getting all nervous. It's almost too perfect. I wished to meet a nice guy like Danny. And one just happens to show up on my doorstep? That kind of thing doesn't normally happen in real life."

"Paulina," Kwan sighed as he walked around to the next aisle, "stop making yourself freak out. You're only thinking it's too perfect because it's the first time you're in a relationship where the guy isn't a total jerk. And you're going to make him start thinking you have some sort of bladder problem if you keep sitting in the bathroom to talk with me."

"I know. But I've never had a normal relationship before. Not really. Not with a nice guy. What if I mess it up and lose him?"

"You're not going to mess it up, and you're not going to lose him. Just get back out there and enjoy your dinner with him."

"Yeah, you're right. I'll talk to you later, Kwan."

After saying his goodbye, Kwan hung up his phone and shoved it back into his pocket. Paulina was off on a date with Steven. Dash was doing the sleepover thing. Kwan frowned as he realized his night would be spent eating at his apartment by himself. He walked to the frozen food section of the store. There was always the option of going out somewhere, like Bob's Bar and Grill, but the idea of dealing with some woman flirting with him left a sour taste in his mouth. He didn't want to be bothered by someone looking for a quick up. He found a microwavable lasagna that didn't look like it would be half bad. With that and a liter of diet soda in hand, he headed for an open checkout lane. After he paid for his items, he left the grocery store and headed for his car.

"How can he be out of milk all the time?"

"Because you keep drinking it all. Yet you're still a shortie."

Kwan halted before he could insert the key into his car door when he heard that voice. He turned his head, catching sight of Dan walking with a shorter woman that he recognized as Danny's other cousin Elle toward the entrance of the grocery store. Dan was laughing as Elle puffed out her cheeks after being teased about her height.

"I'm average for my age," Elle argued. "You're just a monster." Her blue eyed gaze glanced his way, and a smile spread onto her face. "Hey, it's Kwan." She walked toward him with Dan trailing a step behind her. "Were you out picking up some groceries too?"

"Uh, yeah." Kwan rubbed at the back of his neck, glancing at Dan before looking away. He still wasn't sure about his feelings for the man. While he was angry that Dan forced another kiss on him, some part of him kept whispering that he did, maybe, kind of, like kiss. If he hadn't been stunned at the moment, he probably would have had plenty of time to push Dan away and tell him to stop before their lips even met. "Just needed to pick up something quick for dinner."

Dan hooked a finger around the top edge of the bag and pulled it open enough for him to see inside it. "A dinky lasagna?" he questioned with a frown as he lifted an eyebrow at the man in front of him.

"What's wrong with lasagna?" Kwan demanded, folding his arms almost defensively.

"Nothing." Dan shrugged. "When they don't taste like wet cardboard."

"I think what Dan means," Elle gave her cousin a dark glare, "is that you shouldn't eat some tiny microwavable meal."

Dan blinked at her before a sly grin spread onto his face. "That's actually a good idea. Since we're already here, we can just grab what we need. I'll show you what a _real_ lasagna should taste like."

"I'm going to regret this, aren't I?" Kwan winced as he turned his aqua green eyes onto Elle while Dan already started walking toward the entrance of the store again.

"After learning to cook from Danny and Vlad? I think you'd be surprised by what he can do." Elle grabbed hold of his hand and pulled him back toward the store.

That little fact rattled around inside of his head. Kwan realized Danny probably knew how to cook, at least some things, since Sam died and he was now a single father. But it never occurred to him that Dan might know how to cook as well. "Wait," he said suddenly as the woman's words played through his head again. "Vlad? Like Vlad Masters?"

A sneaky grin spread over her face as Elle released his hand to shove her own hands into the pockets on the sky blue hoodie she wore. "The one and only," she answered, leading the way toward where the milk was kept. "He went to college with Danny's parents, so they're old friends."

"I guess that's why he knew all that stuff," Kwan mumbled thoughtfully as Elle looked over the milk selection, checking the sell by date on them before grabbing two gallons.

"Knew what stuff?" Elle blinked curiously at him.

"Uh, just some tech stuff." Kwan shrugged as they went to look for the other man. When they got into talking tech, Kwan was happy to have something to talk with about it. Paulina never really was one for tech, and Dash mostly worked on cars and automatons, though that was back in high school. Dash hadn't done anything involving an automaton in years. But Dan surprised him with the knowledge he displayed. Kwan was still in disbelief about the man pointing out small errors in his plans and minor improvements that he hadn't thought about until they were mentioned. It truly impressed him because he wouldn't have imagined Dan being so tech savvy until they started talking about it.

"He hasn't done anything stupid again, has he?" Elle questioned, giving him a serious look as she frowned. "Because, you know, if he does anything to offend you, Danny, Val, and I will give him an ass kicking like you wouldn't believe."

"Does he usually go around kissing people all the time?"

"The only person I've seen him kiss is Desiree," Elle admitted thoughtfully as she considered his question. "He can be a bit impulsive when it comes to someone he likes. His past," she hesitated, glancing worriedly at Kwan, "wasn't exactly the best. He was hurt pretty badly, which is what started his whole path of destruction lifestyle." She lowered her sad eyes. "I think the reason he can come on a bit too strongly when he likes someone is because he knows how much it hurts to lose someone he cares deeply for without ever getting the chance to tell them how he felt. I think he just wants to get his feelings across to you. But that also leads to him making stupid mistakes."

Kwan frowned as her words sank into his head. "He never mentioned anything like that. I mean," he folded his arms as he struggled with the new information, "he mentioned that he hurt a lot of people in the past, but he never mentioned anything about what led him to be like that."

"I doubt he wants to talk about it all that much. It's no real excuse for stepping over boundaries. But if you tell him upfront that you're uncomfortable with being kissed by him, he'll stop."

"I've got what I need," Dan announced when he found them. He carried a basket with him containing the various ingredients that he would need to put together a lasagna. "Did you get everything you needed?"

"Does Danny still have some of that ice cream at home?" Elle questioned as they all started walking back toward the checkout lanes.

Dan's mouth pursed for a moment in thought. "I believe he does."

"Score!" Elle grinned as she turned toward Kwan. "You've gotta try it. Danny makes awesome ice cream."

"Danny _makes_ ice cream?" Kwan gawked at the pair of cousins.

"He's just full of surprises, isn't he?" Dan grinned as the cashier rang them up, but he left it for Elle to pay. Once they had the groceries in hand, they left the store.

"Uh, so where exactly are you going to bake this lasagna?" Kwan headed toward his car as the pair walked beside him. He realized then that they really hadn't talked about that part after Dan decided for himself that he would make the lasagna.

"Might as well do this at Danny's house," Dan answered and shot a pointed look at Elle. "Since someone wants Danny's ice cream." She grinned weakly, but Kwan admitted that all the talk about ice cream was starting to make him have a craving for it.

"So, uh, I don't know where his house is." Kwan pulled open the driver's side door. "I guess one of you could ride with me and give me directions."

"We walked here," Elle said as she already started to open the back door of the car.

"Since neither of us have a car here," Dan explained after catching Kwan's puzzled look, "and Danny took his car to drive over to Dash's place for the sleepover." He shrugged as he walked around the passenger's side to climb into the car. "It wasn't really that long of a walk."

Kwan guessed that all made sense, after all neither Dan nor Elle lived here. He got into the car and started the engine. After leaving the parking lot, the ride was mostly silent except for the occasional break by Dan to give directions to Danny's house. When they arrived, Kwan parked the car and stared out the window at the two story house. It wasn't anything big and grossly fancy, but it was a decent size, perhaps a little too big for only Danny and his son. Kwan glanced at Dan then to the rear view mirror to see Elle. If he was having guests popping in all the time, then perhaps Danny needed the extra room.

Climbing out of the car, Kwan followed the cousins up to the front door. After they entered the house, Dan led the way into the kitchen, which was neatly kept with all the counters clean of clutter and pots and pans hanging from a rack. Dan immediately got to work on prepping the lasagna. Kwan took a seat at the table while Elle disappeared after her phone rang.

"Did you continue to play football in college?" Dan asked, breaking the awkward silence that fell over them.

"Well, I did get a football scholarship." Kwan scratched a hand through his raven locks. "I played for a while, but I always knew that I wasn't going to make a career of it. I wasn't nearly that good, and I only liked playing in high school because it was fun being on a team with Dash."

"As I recall, you were pretty good freshmen year."

Kwan frowned as he narrowed his eyes at the back of Dan's head. "You saw me play freshmen year?"

"Uh, yeah, a few times." Dan shrugged. "But I was buried in the crowd, so it's not surprising that you wouldn't have noticed me."

"Why only freshmen year?" Kwan's mouth thinned as he tried to piece together the puzzle that was Dan.

The man remained silent for several long moments, focusing on making their dinner. "That," Dan said when Kwan was about to give up on getting an answer, "was when everything fell apart for me. It was only a few months after the start of the year, and," he paused, drawing out the silence again, "things got bad. I didn't take it well at all, and I lost myself to grief and rage and fell down a bad path."

"Did you," Kwan hesitated, not sure that he should even ask, "do time?"

Dan actually chuckled, surprising the other man. "I suppose you could say that. But I don't plan to ever get myself thrown back in there."

"Ugh," Elle complained as she entered the kitchen. "And just when I thought I had some time off. One of my co-workers got sick, and I'm going to have to fill in for her."

"Are you leaving then?" Kwan asked, not sure which answer he was hoping she would give.

"I should be fine if I hang out here for a little while longer." Elle grinned as she sat down at the table. "I wouldn't want to miss out on Dan's amazing lasagna."

"Sarcasm will get you nothing," Dan said as he popped the glass pan into the oven to bake. "I'm aware that I'm no master chef, but I can at least make something edible." He folded his arms as he leaned back against the counter.

It was only then that Kwan noticed the distance between them. Since they bumped into each other in the parking lot, Dan had kept away from him. It was like the man really was trying to make the effort so that he didn't make the same mistake again. Leaning back against the table, Kwan glanced between the two cousins, and he frowned as the silence stretched. Some thought wiggled into his brain, nagging at him the more he glanced between them.

"I know family is supposed to resemble each other," Kwan said slowly, thinking of his own family where it was easy to pick out that they were related, "but you two share an awful lot in terms of looks with Danny." When he looked at each of them with a critical eye, he could see a lot of Danny in the cousins. Too much really. They could have been a set of triplets, if their ages matched.

"That's not surprising," Elle said, giving him a nudge in the leg with her foot. But her laugh sounded somewhat forced, and Kwan noticed a troubled look entering Dan's blue eyes at his comment. "I mean, it would be weird if we didn't look anything like Danny when he's our cousin. Right?"

"I guess," Kwan said uncertainly, but he still felt like there was something he was overlooking when it came to the three of them. It was like seeing an answer to a problem, but that answer refused to make itself clear so that he could understand it.

"So what were you like as a kid?" Elle asked in an obvious change of topics.

"Well, I'm sure Danny told you plenty about that." Kwan frowned as he tugged at one ear. "Dash and I were pretty bad. We never listened to our parents about behaving and always got into some sort of trouble."

"Man, I bet there are some cute pictures of the two of you from back then." Elle grinned before she got out of her chair and darted out of the room. A moment later, she returned with a photo album in her arms. "I think there are some of little Danny in here. But a lot of them are of Lex."

Elle set the album down on the table between them and flipped it open. Right on the front page was a picture of toddler Danny asleep against his sister's side as Jazz held a book. Dan came over to join them, sitting across from them and leaning over the table to look at the photographs upside down. Thoughts about the oddity of how closely the cousins resembled each other fell silent as they flipped through the photo album, talking about the pictures of young Danny and Lex.


	26. Chapter 26

"So Skulker's taking care of Hunter tonight?" Desiree asked as they walked down the street.

Ember stretched her arms over her head. "About time I get a night out. We alternate days for training now, but when it comes to regular baby duties, Skulker's like any man and tries to pass it all off on me. Tonight, he gets to be the one to change the stinky diapers."

"I think I'm glad I don't have to deal with any of that." Desiree smiled, but it didn't quite reach the brown eyes of her human disguise. Ember could get away with her ghostly appearance because everyone took it as her just being a rock star. The only real change she made was that her hair no longer appeared fiery but looked like natural hair now.

Pushing back a lock of ebony hair behind an ear, Desiree admitted she was kind of jealous of her fellow ghost. Despite all their fighting, Ember and Skulker did love each other, though Ember liked to complain a lot about him. Ember's lair merged with the floating jungle that was Skulker's domain, and they had an adorable child together. Desiree wanted a life like that, but she wasn't in love with Dan when they dated and she hadn't found anyone new to try dating. Maybe, but - She shook her head, already giving up on that idea.

"I so can't imagine Dan being a father." Ember laughed, probably trying imagine it right at that moment. "Danny, yes, always meant to be a father. But Dan? Wow. I mean, he makes a great uncle type for Lex, but I really don't see him with a child of his own." She grinned with wicked mischief in her green eyes. "Though that would make a tempting wish."

"Don't you dare," Desiree warned, narrowing her eyes. Sometimes she really hated her power. In the beginning, she enjoyed granting wishes and seeing people's happy faces when their wishes came true. But it slowly chipped away at her when she realized her own wishes for a happy ending would never be granted. Then she became bitter about her ability, and only the increased power of granting wishes gave her any joy. But after becoming friends with Danny and being involved with Dan, who showed her not all men interested her were jerks, she felt content with herself. Even if she wasn't with someone, she felt happier with her afterlife, no longer needing the power or having the desire to grant every wish she heard.

But even if she didn't want to, the moment she heard someone say the words "I wish," her powers kicked in and she granted whatever it was they wished. Desiree frowned as she recalled the latest wish she granted. Since the night they met, she enjoyed hanging out with Paulina. The human woman was fun to talk to and came up with great designs for clothes, some of which Desiree was thinking of adopting into her appearance once Paulina came out with her clothing line. But now that Paulina was interested in this Steven guy, Desiree expected to hear far too much about the man coming up whenever they talked.

"Oh, come on! It would be great." Ember grinned as she nudged the other ghost with her elbow. When Desiree glared at her, Ember sighed and held up her hands in surrender. "Okay. Okay. I won't say the dreaded W word."

"Anyway, with Danny's half in him, Dan has to have some of that father instinct in him," Desiree pointed out. "But why are we sitting here rambling on about guys? This is supposed to be girls night out."

"That's more like it! Time to get this party started!" Ember tossed an arm around Desiree's shoulders and hugged the other ghost closer. "Too bad we couldn't get some of the other girls to join us. Spectra's off doing some sort of counseling thing."

"Should we tell Danny?" Desiree asked warily. It was considered rude to rat out other ghosts for sneaking into the real world to have a bit of fun, but with Spectra's ability to feed of the misery of humans, things could go bad fast if she was left alone.

"I think it'll be fine." Ember shrugged. "She's learned to control her hunger so that she doesn't drive any already depressed students to do anything drastic. Anyway, she's in Wisconsin, so if she starts acting up, Vlad can always step in to take care of her." Her mouth pursed as she tilted her head. "Valerie's busy with work. Elle decided to hang out with Dan." She rolled her eyes. "Party poopers. Kitty is in one of her love phases with Johnny and can't be bothered to leave his side."

"Now those two." Desiree shook her head. "I can't believe they haven't had a child yet, but that's probably a good thing with all the fighting they do."

Ember winced. "Yeah, I don't see Johnny and Kitty doing very well as parents. Then again," she shrugged, "I'm sure plenty of other ghosts think it's crazy that I had a child."

"I'm sure many are wondering _how_ you were able to have a child. I mean, Skulker's, like, as big as my hand." Desiree laughed when the other ghost gave her a shove.

"Well, they can wonder all they like," Ember grumbled, folding her arms, "because I'm certainly not going to tell them anything."

"That's probably for the best." Desiree shook her head, certain that she didn't want to know about the intimate details involving Skulker, who outside of his metal suit look like a tiny green frog.

"I'm so sorry about that," a man said, his voice drawing Desiree's ear. When she turned her head, she blinked in surprise to find Paulina stepping out of a restaurant, that look much too fancy, with the man that showed up at her apartment after the wish was granted. The woman had a dark stain down the right side of her pink dress.

"It's fine," Paulina assured him with a polite smile as she pulled on her coat, which helped to hide the stain. "Accidents happen. It's nothing the dry cleaners won't be able to get out."

"At least let me pay for it," Steven offered, and Desiree frowned, finding herself half wishing that the whole nice guy act was simply that: an act. But she wasn't even sure where that selfish thinking came from when she should be happy that Paulina found a man that would at least treat her well, if he really was anything like Danny.

"Hello?" Ember snapped her fingers in front the ghost beside her. "Earth to Desiree. Come back from the light."

"What?" Desiree blinked a few times as she glanced back at the singer.

"You kind of zoned out there for a moment." Ember frowned with some concern before she turned her green eyes onto the pair that had stepped out of the restaurant. "Friend of yours?" she questioned, resting an arm on Desiree's shoulder and leaning on her as she crossed one leg in front of the other. "Shall we go say hello?"

"While she's on a date?" Desiree frowned skeptically at Ember. "I think we should just ignore her and keep walking. We're supposed to have our own fun tonight. Remember?" She grabbed hold of Ember's hand, ready to pull the singer back down the street. "Where should we go? There are probably some good clubs we could hit."

"We have time for a quick hello." Ember yanked on Desiree's arm, pulling her along toward where the couple still stood. When they reached the pair, Steven looked startled by their approach while Paulina blinked at them before smiling.

"Desiree," Paulina greeted, her emerald eyes straying to blue haired woman.

"This is my good friend, Ember," Desiree introduced, holding back some annoyance in her voice because this whole meeting felt incredibly awkward to her.

"I know who she is." Paulina smiled as she hugged her arms around her, keeping her coat securely closed around her to avoid having the singer catch sight of the embarrassing stain on her dress. "You played at my high school in freshmen year. I loved your music."

"A fan." Ember grinned at Desiree. "I always love to meet a fan."

"You're a singer?" Steven questioned as his blue eyes glanced her over, his nose wrinkling slightly.

"Yeah," Ember answered with a hint of aggression in her voice as she folded her arms. "Got a problem with that?"

"No," Steven responded promptly, but Desiree suspected he did have some problem with it based off that expression on his face that suggested distaste for the singer. "What style of music?"

Ember shrugged, annoyance flashing in her eyes. "We're kind of a throwback to eighties rockers. But that's probably not your style of music."

"Hardly," Steven agreed with a sneer. "I much prefer something more along the lines of classical music."

"You would." Ember snorted as she glanced away.

Paulina laughed nervously, and that tense awkwardness that fell over the group was probably the last thing that the woman wanted after going on a date with Steven. "You both look dressed up. Were you heading out somewhere?"

Desiree briefly glanced at herself and Ember. She decided to dress in a loose pale blue top with some glitter on it as one sleeve hung off her shoulder and tight leather pants. Ember dressed mostly the same as she usually did in her ghost form, though she added a mesh top over her usual single strapped halter top.

"We were just having a girls night out," Desiree explained, wishing she could grant her own wishes so that she could make it so that this awkward moment never happened. "Probably just hit a club and dance around for a while. You know, relieve some stress after a long week." She shrugged her shoulder, hoping she came off sounding casual.

"That sounds fun. Oh!" Paulina's eyes suddenly lit up as she grabbed hold of Desiree's hands. "I just finished designing a dress, and I thought, maybe," she winced, biting her lower lip, "you could model it when I finish sewing it all together."

"Me?" Desiree asked, stunned by the request. "Are you sure?"

"Well, I mean, I'll have to adjust the measurements later." A slight flush colored Paulina's cheeks. "You're much larger in certain areas, but I wanted to take some pictures of the dress on a real person for a better show of how it will look. Just seeing it on a hanger really doesn't do it justice, and if Jazz has anything they wants changed, I'll be able to do that while making the alterations to it."

"Jazz," Desiree repeated, trying to place the name before it hit her. She felt like smacking herself for the momentary blank on Danny's sister's name. "Wait. Are you talking about her _wedding_ dress?"

Paulina flushed darker as she nodded. "We've been talking a bit, and she gave me the go ahead for designing a dress. That doesn't mean she'll necessary _choose_ to wear the dress I designed. She probably has a few dress choices in mind already."

"Is this the dress you were working on the other night?" Steven questioned, losing some of that glower in his expression as he turned back to his date.

"Yeah," Paulina answered, "though it's probably not good enough for an actual wedding."

"Nonsense!" Desiree argued at the same time as Steven.

"I'm sure it turned out wonderfully," Steven continued, taking hold of Paulina's hand. He laced their fingers together as he brought her hand to mouth and kissed the back of it. "I'm sure Jazz will love it."

Desiree's mouth pursed as she watched the display. As nice as he apparently was, Steven seemed to be laying it on pretty thickly with Paulina. "Well, we shouldn't keep you," she said as she hooked an arm around Ember's arm. "You're on a date and all. We shouldn't have interrupted."

"Ah, right." Paulina frowned. "I'll talk with you later then." She waved goodbye to them as Steven led her away, probably to his car to drive her back to their apartment building.

"Ugh, that guy!" Ember complained when they were out of hearing range of the couple.

"You can't say you hate him just because he doesn't like your style of music," Desiree argued, releasing her hold on the singer's arm so that she could hug her arms around her body. She couldn't say she exactly liked the man either though.

"It's not that." Ember frowned, glaring sideways at the other ghost. "Not completely, okay. He seems like totally uptight. Oh, I only like _classical_ music." She mockingly spoke in a mannish voice before she rolled her eyes. "Please! But that's not the reason. He just-" She pursed her mouth to one side. "Did you see the way he kept staring at us?"

"Ember, I know you're hot," Desiree said with a tired sigh. "Figuratively _and_ literally." She reached out to twirl a lock of bright blue hair around her finger, knowing that once the singer shifted back into her usual ghost appearance, the hair would turn to fire. "But I really doubt he was checking you out right in front of Paulina."

"I didn't mean like that. And ew!" Ember made a face. "Like I would even _want_ him to check me out."

"Says the woman dating a frog," Desiree pointed out dryly.

"Irrelevant," Ember argued, frowning grumpily. "But what I _meant_ was that I think he was suspicious of us." Her frown turned ponderous as her brow knitted. "You don't think he suspected anything, right? I mean, our disguises are pretty perfect. No one would suspect we're really ghosts, right?"

Desiree eyed the singer. "Now I think you're just being paranoid. This isn't Amity Park." She patted the woman on the shoulder. "People here don't have any reason to think that ghosts might be walking among them. Now," she pulled her hand away from the shoulder to clap her hands together, "are we going to go party it up or not?" After the run in with Paulina and her date, Desiree lost interest in the whole girls night out plan, but Ember immediately perked back up at the mention of partying. Rolling brown eyes, she followed after the singer to the nearest club.


	27. Chapter 27

Falling asleep seemed to take him forever. At five in the morning, he was still lying in bed staring up at the ceiling in his dark room as the events of the evening replayed in his mind. He still couldn't believe that Fenton broke down like that, in front of him no less. It was almost surreal to have Fenton crying on his shoulder and trying to comfort the man. When Paulina told him that Sam died, Dash never thought it would be because someone shot her. He thought maybe she got sick or something. He imagined some sort of sudden but peaceful passing in her sleep. But the fact that she was shot sent a chill down his spine as a rage burned through his veins. He may not have liked Manson all that much during high school, but he surely never would have wished death upon on her, especially not like that. Not in front of her child who would have to live with that memory for the rest of his life. And Fenton, holding it all in for so long. Dash couldn't think of how the man managed to deal with all that pain. He half understood putting the blame on himself, but Fenton had to realize that it wasn't his fault.

Dash frowned as he glared at the ceiling, doubting that his words really got through to the man. He could probably tell Fenton a million times that he wasn't to blame for Manson's death, but the man would probably continue to put it all on his shoulders, burdening himself with that pain. As the thoughts circled around his mind, Dash decided he was probably lucky that his girlfriend was a witch and dumped him and left his life for good with no real love between them. If he had to go through what Fenton did, he wasn't sure how he would handle that pain of losing a loved one, especially right after it happened and having a child to take care of. But Fenton did have his family and friends to help him through that time. Dash knew he could count on Kwan and Paulina, as well as his parents, to help him through the bad times in his life.

It was six in the morning, and his room was turning gray with the morning light of the rising sun, when Dash decided to give up on sleep and climbed out of bed. He threw on a pair of jeans and a clean black shirt before he left his bedroom to head downstairs. Pausing in front his son's bedroom, he peeked inside to check on the boys. They were still sleeping soundly while Lex clutched tightly to the Phantom doll that Xander made for him. A smile managed to find its way onto his face when he saw them so peacefully curled up with each other. Quietly closing the door, he walked down the stairs and toward the kitchen. He halted in the doorway when he spotted the man sitting on the floor with his knees drawn up to his chest. Fenton held a mug in his hands, halfway to his mouth as his blue eyes gazed blankly in front of him.

"How long have you been down here?" Dash questioned as he took a seat beside the man and leaned back against the cabinets. It was around one in the morning when he managed to convince Fenton to come upstairs and try to sleep after the man seemed have finished crying out the last of his tears. For that moment, at least. He couldn't recall hearing the man pass by his bedroom, and the floorboards could be creaky sometimes.

Fenton turned his head, and Dash noticed immediately the dark circles under his eyes. "Uh," he drew out the word, trying to think of how long he sat there on the floor, "what time is it?"

"Six," Dash answered as he plucked the mug from Fenton's loose hold. It was coffee, of course, but it had long since grown cold. Getting to his feet, he set a pot of coffee to boil and put the mug of cold coffee in the microwave to heat it up again.

"Oh," Fenton mumbled, sounding distant like his mind was elsewhere. "I guess three, maybe four hours."

Dash frowned as he dropped his gaze to the man. Fenton sat down here alone for that long? "Couldn't sleep then?"

"I-" Fenton lowered his gaze then bent his head down, burying it between his legs as he laced his fingers behind his neck. "I tried. But it kept replaying in my head and I couldn't sleep."

Dash couldn't say he was all that surprised that Fenton had trouble sleeping, since he didn't do so well in that department either. When the microwave beeped, he took the mug from it the crouched down beside Fenton and nudged his leg. "Sometimes, talking can be very cathartic," he offered, "though you've probably heard that a million times from Jazz."

Fenton sat up a bit straighter and accepted the mug when it was pressed into his hands. This Fenton was strange to deal with, like his guard was completely down to reveal the heart wrenching pain that was raging inside him. Dash wasn't sure what was proper to say or do in this situation. They were hardly anywhere close to friends when they were in high school and only started reconnecting over the past few weeks. He was hardly the first person Fenton was likely to talk to about what he was going through after the death of a close friend and wife.

"The problem with talking to Jazz though," Fenton said, half a smile sneaking onto his face as he raised the mug to his lips, "is that she pretty much psycho analyzes everything I say and do. I know she means well, but sometimes it annoys the hell out of me."

"Yeah," Dash scratched a hand through his blond lock, "I can see that getting annoying. And having someone analyzing everything about you is probably not what you need right now." He stood up and poured himself a mug of coffee when the pot finished boiling. "But if you've got someone to just listen to you, it could probably help you get stuff off your chest. Release some of that stuff you've built up inside. I'm not saying me. But maybe Foley. She was his friend too. I bet he felt pretty miserable over her death too."

"It's," Danny's hands tightened around the mug, "difficult to talk about it. I know what everyone will say. It wasn't my fault. I should stop blaming myself." He tilted his head up, resting it back against the cabinet, as he stared up at Dash. "But I should have been able to protect her. If no one else, I should have been able to keep her safe."

"Fenton," Dash struggled to think of what to tell him. He set the mug down on the counter then crouched again, moving this time to place himself right in front of the man as he grabbed hold of Fenton's arms. "No superhero, no matter how strong or powerful or amazing, can save everyone. They aren't perfect. Even they make mistakes that cost people their lives." His brow pinched at the look flickering through Fenton's bright blue eyes. He almost thought it was panic or fear. "You're human, Fenton. You're bound to make mistakes that you regret. You can't predict everything, and sometimes something horrible happens that no amount of planning can stop. She was killed, and that is no one's fault except the asshole that pulled the trigger."

"I-" Fenton tried weakly, his voice cracking. He shook his head, lowering his gaze, and Dash could see tears building in his eyes. "Why aren't you laughing at me? I know Dash the bully. I know how to deal with you picking on me and laughing at me. But this is weird with you being all nice and comforting and letting me cry on your shoulder."

"Well, this is a bit strange for me too," Dash admitted, sitting back as he rubbed at his neck. "But this isn't a laughing matter." He frowned at the man, who was desperately trying not to break down again. "I may have been a jerk in the past, but I'm not that same man you knew in high school. I'm not the dick that laughs at people in pain."

Fenton took a long sip from his mug of coffee. "Thanks," he mumbled after swallowing the gulp. "You didn't have to try to say stuff to make me feel better or anything. So thanks."

"Hey, any time you need to talk." Dash smiled. As weird as it was getting along with Fenton like this, he rather liked it. The man was interesting to talk with, and their children got along well. Xander had apparently grown rather attached to Fenton too. Dash found that strange, but it was a bit of relief to see his son breaking somewhat out of his shell to like people beyond his father and Uncle Kwan and Auntie Lina. He always worried that his son might grow up to be an outsider at school. Meeting up with Fenton again, Dash realized how silly labels like "loser" were since they didn't define everything about a person. But it wasn't the loser label that worried him. It was his son being lonely if he never started making friends, and the harassment of other students.

"Daddy," Xander said, his voice holding a hint of a whine as he stumbled half awake into the kitchen. Lex followed him, clutching the Phantom doll to his chest with one hand as he rubbed at his eyes with the other.

"What is it, my little Picasso?" Dash asked as he hooked his hands under his son's arms and lifted him into the air as he stood. Xander released a giggling squeal and latched his arms around his father's neck.

Lex, meanwhile, crawled into his father's lap as Fenton hurriedly wiped away any evidence of his tears. Setting down the mug of coffee beside him, he smiled down at his son, who snuggled back against his chest.

"Lex," Fenton said in a warning tone when the blond boy brought his father's hand up and nipped at his fingers.

"But I'm _hungry_ ," Lex whined, pushing out his lower lip as he tilted his head back and pouted up at his father. When Fenton leaned down to whisper something in his ear, Lex didn't look very happy about it.

"Well," Dash said as he set Xander back down on his feet, "how about I make some nice oatmeal?" He clapped his hands together and glanced about for any disapproval of his suggestion for breakfast.

"With booberries?" Xander asked, tugging at his father's pant leg with an excited gleam in his eyes.

"Yup!" Dash cast a look to the other two. "Is blueberries okay?"

Fenton nodded. "That should be all right. Someone," he poked his fingers at his son's sides, earning giggles as the boy squirmed, "likes blueberries too."

Dash smiled at the pair, relieved to see some of that usual Fenton return, even if the man was only putting on a front to keep his son from seeing just how depressed he really was over Manson's death. Though he was a little concerned by how easily the man slipped the mask of being all right back onto his face when he was clearly still grieving. Dash got the container of oatmeal from the cabinet and started working on preparing enough for all four of them. Fenton moved the boys out of the way then proceeded to tickle them without mercy, filling the kitchen with laughter.

When breakfast was ready, they headed into the dining room with the boys eagerly climbing onto their seats, ready to dig into their bowls. Fenton helped him get glasses of milk for the boys as Dash grabbed their coffee mugs before the two parents sat down to enjoy their meal. It wasn't anything fancy like Fenton's star and moon pancakes, but the boys seemed happy enough digging into the oatmeal with blueberries mixed into it.

"Dad," Lex said, lifting a big spoonful of oatmeal from his bowl, "can we do this every weekend?" He tried to cram the spoon into his mouth but only managed to get it about halfway in.

"Yeah!" Xander agreed, kicking his legs as he turned toward his father. "Can we? Pwease?" He clasped his hands around the handle of his spoon as he begged. The glob of oatmeal on the spoon slipped down slowly to coat the boy's hands in gooeyness that dripped onto the table too.

"I don't know," Fenton said with a grin tugging at his mouth. "Every weekend is a lot." He glanced across the table to meet Dash's gaze. "We could probably work out some sort of schedule. But we might have things come up that make _every_ weekend impossible."

"Well, I don't mind," Dash said with a shrug. The boys seemed happy spending time together, and he got along well with Fenton now, so it wasn't bad having them come around on the weekend for their children to play. "But maybe we should think more of an every _other_ weekend sort of deal." They said too much of a good thing could be bad. Dash wasn't entirely sure that sort of saying really fit here, but allowing the boys to have some small breaks from each other couldn't hurt. It certainly wouldn't be the end of the world for them if they had to go one weekend without a sleepover, at least.

"That would probably work best," Fenton said after taking a sip of his coffee. As he set the mug back down on the table, he sighed with a roll of his eyes. "Since apparently everyone I know seems to like dropping by."

The comment stuck in Dash's mind as he ate his oatmeal. Now that Fenton mentioned it, he did seem to have a new house guest dropping by practically every day. Dash doubted any of them moved out here with Fenton, which started him wondering how they were able to bounce back and forth between Fenton's home and wherever they lived, especially with jobs. Even with time off, they wouldn't be able to constantly make trips back and forth.

"Will Auntie Ember come today?" Lex asked, picking out a blueberry from the oatmeal mush before sticking it in his mouth. He grinned around the finger still in his mouth. "She made your hair look funny."

Fenton flushed horribly at that comment, and Dash had to wonder what exactly the woman did to his hair to get that reaction. "I don't know," Fenton finally answered, poking his spoon at his oatmeal. "We'll have to see if she decides to come for another visit. Maybe she'll bring Hunter along and you two can play."

"But Hunter's just a baby." Lex made a face, obviously not interested in playing with someone much younger than he.

"Wait," Dash said when the name finally struck him. "Ember? You don't mean Ember McLain, do you?"

"Uh, yeah," Fenton said, looking away with slightly pink cheeks.

"Wha- How do you know her so well?" Dash's mind boggled. Fenton was friends with someone famous like Ember McLain? Ember McLain actually visited Fenton to hang out with him? He loved her music back in high school, though he didn't listen to it as much anymore. Most of the music he listened to now, he had to be sure was appropriate for Xander to listen to also.

"Well, we did meet back when she did that show in Amity Park." Fenton shrugged like it wasn't a big deal that he knew the famous singer. "So we sort kept in touch since then."

"Oh, right." Dash made a face as he remembered one part about that show Ember did freshmen year. He still didn't know what possessed Manson to kiss him while Ember was on stage performing, but glancing across the table at the other man, Dash guessed there were no hard feelings between them over that incident. He was almost tempted to bring it up to see how the man reacted, but then he glanced at Lex, making just as much of a mess as Xander while eating his oatmeal. Perhaps that was more of an inquiry to make when he and Fenton were alone.

When they finished with breakfast, they took their sons upstairs to wash them up after the sticky breakfast and get them changed and ready for the day.


	28. Chapter 28

"Can I eat now?" Lex asked the moment they entered the house, tugging on his father's hand.

"Okay. Okay," Danny said as he pulled his hand free before his son could try to bite at his fingers again.

He was still thanking his lucky stars that Dash didn't question that little oddity. But maybe Dash was giving him some space after that whole complete meltdown last night. Danny rubbed tiredly at his face, still feeling drained after bawling his eyes out, and a flush rose to his cheeks as he remembered that he cried on Dash's shoulder. It still made his head spin that Dash wasn't laughing at him or teasing him for that. It was weird. It didn't fit with the image he had of Dash from high school. But they had both grown and changed since graduating from Casper High.

"What do you want? I could make you a sandwich with ecto lime jelly and booey-gooey peanut butter." Danny headed for the laboratory with his son trotting along behind him.

"Yeah!" Lex cheered, pumping his fists into the air.

Danny smiled to himself, shaking his head as he walked over to where he kept all his ectoplasmic ingredients. He grabbed the jars of bright, neon green jelly and a dark green, creamy peanut butter. With those in hand, he returned to the kitchen with his son, who kept at his side in his eager anticipation of feeding his ghost hunger. After slapping the jelly and peanut butter onto slices of bread and pressing them together, he handed the sandwich to his son. Lex immediately took a large bite out of the sandwich, happily munching on it while ignoring the smears of green around his mouth. Danny scraped a glob of the jelly off his thumb with his teeth before he screwed the tops back onto the jars. It still had a funky taste to him, but there was something about it that made his stomach growl with hunger. He still preferred normal human food over anything made with ectoplasm though.

"Is it good?" Danny asked, dropping his gaze to his son, and Lex nodded with a wide grin, already halfway finished with his sandwich. Crouching down, Danny folded his arms over his legs. "So what sort of things did Dan teach you yesterday?" After playing babysitter to Youngblood and Box Lunch, neither of whom wanted to return to the Ghost Zone after their hour was up and made him chase them around for way too long, Danny didn't get much time to ask about the training before they were heading off to Dash's house for the sleepover.

Lex swallowed his mouthful before speaking. "He tried to show me how to make energy balls, but," he frowned, lowering his head, "I couldn't get it to work."

"Hm, maybe that's just a little too advanced for you right now," Danny said as he stood to grab a paper towel. After wetting it, he crouched down again and scrubbed his son's hands and face clean of the sticky green residue from the jelly and peanut butter. "It took me a while before I developed the ability to use ectoblasts. How about we work on something else? I bet you'd enjoy flying." He grinned at his son before he tossed the dirty paper towel into the trash.

"Yeah, I wanna fly!" Lex bounced on his feet, excited at the prospect of learning how to fly. From what he demonstrated so far, he could only manage a slight hover for a short time before he had to drop back to the ground. Moving while floating seemed too much for him at the moment without someone to teach him.

He put off the training for too long, Danny realized. He should have started teaching Lex more than simply defending himself in a fight, like a human. Plenty of times while they were at home, he could see his son's powers start to act up: sinking through the floor, floating into the air at random moments, and disappearing for a second. Danny had to breathe a sigh of relief that no one ever caught those accidents if or when they happened outside of the house. How was he to explain those incidents if one of Lex's classmates or his teacher saw it happen?

"Let's head down to the lab then." Danny grabbed the jars to return to where he usually kept them. Once the jars were put away, he sat down in pretty much the center of the laboratory. "All right. Now I know you can hover a little. I want you to give moving around a try when you do it this time."

Doubt flickered across his son's face before Lex's brow furrowed in concentration. After a moment, he managed to lift his body into the air so that his feet dangled an inch or so off the floor. His arms wind milled and flapped. Then he dropped to the ground, falling on his rump as he frowned.

"I can't do it," Lex mumbled, drawing up his legs. "Dad," he looked at his father as he absently toyed with his shoelaces, "what if my powers aren't as strong as yours?" His gaze lowered to the floor. "What if I can't do all the things you can?"

"You're still young, and your powers haven't fully developed yet." Danny reached out to ruffle his son's blond hair, trying to cheer him up a little. "So you shouldn't start thinking like that if you can't get it right on the first try. I wasn't very good at it when I first got my powers either. I flew into walls more times than I'd like to admit." He laughed weakly with some embarrassment at confessing that piece to his son. "But," his smile fell, "I want you to know that even if you can't do everything that I can, that's okay. You're not me. You might develop some skills that I don't have. Maybe your powers won't be as powerful as mine, but that's okay. You don't need to be some powerhouse. So don't worry about all that. Right now, just focus on trying to get a handle on the powers you've already shown. Okay?" He scooted forward to close the distance between them then started poking at his son's sides until a smile broke onto Lex's face as he squirmed away from the tickling. Both their smiles stopped when they felt chills running down their spines. Danny could tell immediately that his son noticed a ghost's presence too, and he was happy to see the ghost sense was developing nicely in Lex.

"When did you become such a sap, whelp?"

Danny twisted around to see Skulker had stepped through his Portal. He frowned when he saw Skulker holding out Hunter like the baby was a bomb about to go off any second. Hunter's face contorted, little arms and legs wiggling. Then the screaming started, loud crying that made Danny wince and slap his hands over his ears in a poor attempt to drown out the noise.

"What did you do to your child?" Danny demanded as he climbed to his feet.

Skulker glowered at him but looked no more happy with the screaming child than Danny was. "I didn't do anything," he grumbled. "Ember decided she wanted to have a night out partying with Desiree and left Hunter with me." His metal mouth pursed unpleasantly. "She didn't return yet. And I all I did was feed Hunter like usual, but then all the crying started. Please, just make it stop." Skulker actually looked rather pitiful as he begged for help.

Danny sighed as he walked over to the ghost. "You're utterly hopeless, you know." Shaking his head, he took the crying baby from Skulker. "How do you have a child and still know nothing about caring for babies?" He rested Hunter against him then rubbed gently at the baby's back, switching to patting now and then until Hunter released a noisy burp. After that, Hunter quieted down, turning head to bury it against Danny's neck. "See? All you needed to do was burp Hunter."

"How was I supposed to know what Hunter wanted?" Skulker folded his arms with a grouchy expression on his metal face. "It's not like Hunter can tell me what's wrong. Ember's usually the one that deals with this stuff."

Danny rolled his eyes. "And that's probably why she hasn't returned yet from her night out with Desiree." He handed Hunter back over to Skulker, who looked uncertain on how to properly hold a baby. "Hunter's almost one, and you still don't know the first thing about taking care of a baby. Ember's probably sick of having to be the one to do everything. At least the child raising part."

But this incident reminded Danny of that whole flour sack baby project they were forced to do back in freshmen year. It was bad enough being partnered with someone who hated his ghost half without Skulker making the whole thing worse by kidnapping them and the flour sack baby. Sometimes Danny wasn't even sure how they managed to pass that project, but Tucker's failure with the whole daycare thing helped since other than Sam, they were the only ones with a flour sack left at the end of it.

"You've got to support the head," Danny explained, adjusting Skulker's hold on his child so that Hunter's head wasn't dangling. "Man, you really stink at this father thing, don't you?"

"I never really planned to have children," Skulker muttered as he held Hunter against his chest, cradling the head. Hunter yawned widely before eyes slipped half closed. A thumb went into Hunter's mouth as the baby sleepy snuggled against the hard metal of Skulker's chest. It was sort of weird that the scene actually looked kind of cute, despite Skulker's obvious uncertainty over holding his baby.

"Well, you have one now, so you better start getting used to taking care of one." Danny placed his hands on his hips as he gave Skulker one his usual fatherly stern stares. He supposed he was lucky that the Box Ghost and Lunch Lady never needed to come to him for advice on raising Box Lunch. He almost laughed, thinking about how opposite that was. Instead of, like almost all the other ghosts he knew, them coming to him to solve their problems, Danny had to go to Box Ghost for help with raising a son that inherited his ghost DNA.

"So what were you teaching the little whelp today?" Skulker questioned as he tried to soothingly rock Hunter to sleep, which he was probably looking forward to after hearing Hunter cry for quite some time.

"Dad was teaching me to fly!" Lex grinned at Skulker while he tugged on his father's hand. "But I can't seem to do it yet."

"You're doing fine." Danny crouched down and wrapped his arms around his son, who squirmed and protested the embarrassment in front of Skulker. "You just need to practice more. And that's what we're going to do. From now on, we'll practice for at least an hour every day." Though he did have some worries about his son mastering his abilities, mostly in the category of Lex still being a child and abusing his abilities to have fun. He certainly wasn't guiltless on that, but at fourteen, he had some sense of caution when it came to using his powers and making sure he didn't get caught by anyone.

"I could help," Skulker offered. "Give him some real experience defending against attacks."

"You are _not_ ," Danny growled, pointing a finger at the hunter as he glared darkly, "firing live rounds at my son. Lex doesn't even know how to make a shield yet, and his intangibility isn't perfect."

"Fine," Skulker grumbled with a disappointed hunch of his shoulders, clearly wanting to help with the training. Danny still couldn't imagine how Skulker and Ember got any real training done with Hunter when a baby probably couldn't hold a gun or a guitar. But maybe they worked on the common things, like invisibility, intangibility, and ecto energy balls, and the other skills would come later. "Let's see how you fly then."

Lex's face scrunched up in concentration until he managed to rise a few inches off the floor. "But I can't really do much else," he said, pouting.

"I think the problem is that he's concentrating too hard," Skulker offered his advice. "You didn't have this problem when you first got your powers, right?"

"No," Danny agreed, tilting his head back as he thought back to when he was fourteen. "It took me a while to get the hang of flying, but I didn't have that much trouble when it came to actually getting in the air. I just sort of thought it and I was flying." His mouth pursed as he rubbed at his chin in thought. "Maybe you should try that, Lex. Just think of being light, like your body is weightless."

Lex frowned at the suggestion, obviously thinking it wasn't a very good one. But his expression relaxed as he stopped focusing so hard on the idea of flying. Danny nearly held his breath in wait as he watched his son. In the next moment, Lex lifted several more inches off the ground. "It's working!" He grinned widely, proud at the small improvement.

"Now try moving. No, you don't need to flap your arms." Danny bit his lip to stop from chuckling when Lex's arms flapped in the air like a bird's wings.

"Oh." Lex's face turned pink with embarrassment. His upper body leaned forward, almost putting him parallel to the floor. He made some effort of trying to move forward, throwing his arms before him like he was trying to crawl through the air.

"I guess thinking of it like swimming could help," Danny said thoughtfully as Lex struggled to move even a centimeter forward in the air.

"If you had started training him off the bat, he would have had this mastered already," Skulker pointed out, his smirk almost looking a little too smug.

"Everyone learns at their own pace," Danny argued, shooting the ghost a glare. "Lex is doing just fine. And I don't need you coming in here and making him feel like he's slow because he hasn't learned how to do something well."

"I was only saying." Skulker shrugged. "And it would be your fault for not starting his training sooner."

"Are you trying to make me feel like a bad father?" Danny's mouth thinned. "Because I'd like to refer back to a few moments ago when you couldn't even figure out that Hunter needed to be burped after feeding. So maybe I have failed a little on the whole ghost training portion of raising my son. But it's not like we're living in the Ghost Zone. Lex doesn't need to know everything about protecting himself from all the dangers in there yet."

"And what of the dangers in the real world?" Skulker reminded, and a cold wash of dread spilled over Danny. "Maybe you don't have to worry about your parents finding out your little family secret since you moved. But they aren't the only ghost hunters in the world. Just because you haven't met any here yet doesn't mean there aren't any. And what do you think is going to happen if Lex alerts one of their scanners to ghost activity when one of them is close by? If you think he's too young to learn anything yet, think about the dangers of him not knowing how to use powers properly."

"Okay!" Danny snapped out of frustration because each word started to feel like a little stab at him and how much he was failing to protect his son by not teaching him sooner. "I get it. And that's why I'm starting to do the training thing."

"Dad! Dad! Look!" Lex cried, and when he turned his head, Danny found his son practically swimming through the air, doing something akin to the breaststroke to propel himself forward. Lex wore a proud smile on his face at his achievement.

"You did it!" Danny grabbed hold of his son, pulling the small boy into a tight embrace. "See? All it took was some practice."

"It wasn't that much," Skulker mumbled, clearly missing why Danny was so happy over this.

"Hush! A father gets to be proud over his son's first flight." Maybe his worries over the whole training thing were a little misplaced. How could he ignore the need when seeing his son accomplish something gave him such a rush of pride? Danny took hold of Lex's hands and stepped back slowly as his son kicked his feet. After a few steps, he released his hold and moved out of the way as Lex continued swimming forward in the air. Perhaps one night, he would take Lex out for some real flying.


	29. Chapter 29

"So how was your fun night with Danny?" A grin played across Kwan's face when he asked that question. There was something suggestive in that grin that made his friend frown.

"It was fine," Dash answered as he picked up one of the small shoes from the shelf to look it over. "We played space pirates until the boys were too tired to stay awake, and that was pretty much the night." That wasn't all that happened last night, but he didn't think it wise to spill the beans to Kwan about Fenton's breakdown, even if he did share a lot other stuff with his friend. The frown remained on his face as he placed the shoe back on its display. "What did you do after leaving? Hit the bars again?" He lifted a curious brow at his friend.

"I don't go to bars every weekend," Kwan argued as his teasing grin fell into a grumpy frown. "I was thinking, maybe, I should probably just stop going altogether."

"Because you _like_ someone?" This time, Dash was the one wearing the teasing grin as he nudged Kwan in the ribs with his elbow.

"Wow, Dash," Kwan responded in a dull tone. "Are we back in high school?"

"That wasn't a denial." Dash smirked as he continued looking at the selection of children's sized shoes, missing the roll of aqua green eyes.

"Daddy, they feel weird," Xander said, coming up to his father to tug at the blond man's pant leg.

"That's just because you're not used to wearing cleats," Dash explained as he crouch down in front of his son. He pressed at the front end of the cleats with his thumb to check where his son's toes were. There was a bit of room, but it wasn't so much that they would be uncomfortably loose on him. "You just need to get used to them because you need to wear cleats if you're going to play soccer." They still had months before the summer soccer camp started, but Dash decided it would probably be good to get the cleats ahead of time. He also planned to pick up a soccer ball so that they could practice kicking it around some before the camp started.

"Soccer, huh?" Kwan asked as Dash untied the laces so that Xander could remove the cleats. "I'm surprised he didn't want to take up football like his daddy."

"But Lex likes soccer," Xander said, frowning up at the other man.

"And really, as long as he's having fun with a friend, the sport doesn't matter." Dash placed the cleats into their box and handed Xander his own shoes to put on again.

"Yeah, I get that." Kwan nodded. "I never would have stuck with football if I weren't playing with you." He gave his friend nudge in the leg with his foot.

"Those were great times." Dash smiled fondly as he recalled their time playing football together. If Xander ended up with memories like that from playing soccer with Lex, it would be worth letting him try out the sport. Placing the top back on the box, Dash stood with the box in hand. "So we'll pay for these. Then we can hit the toy store." He chuckled when Xander released a happy cheer. "But remember. You can choose one toy." He held up one finger, and the reminder gained him a frown from his son, but Xander nodded his understanding.

Dash led the way to the checkout counter to pay for the cleats. The cashier, a man of average height with brown hair that stuck up at odd angles, rang it up and bagged the box for him. After thanking the man, Dash took the bag, and they left the shoe store. Xander grabbed hold of Dash and Kwan's hands, and the men lifted him up in the air, producing laughter as the boy kicked his feet. They did that whole way to the toy store, lifting Xander up every few steps. When they reached the store, Xander let go of their hands to race off to look at the toys.

"So if you didn't go hang out in a bar last night," Dash started as they slowly followed after Xander, "what did you do?"

"Well," Kwan frowned as he rubbed the back of his neck, "I was just going to grab a quick meal from the grocery store. You know, something I could just shove into the microwave. But, well, I was leaving and ended up running into Danny's cousins."

"Oh?" Dash wasn't sure whether to tease Kwan about bumping into the man he was starting to like or still be angry at Dan for trying to pry into part of Kwan's past that still haunted his friend. But without a little nudging, Kwan would continuously push the man away and make excuses to avoid realizing his own feelings. "Did you two enjoy a night together?"

Kwan shot him a glare. "Both of Danny's cousins were there," he corrected. "Dan made us lasagna, and Danny really does make great ice cream."

"But?" Dash prompted, frowning when he noticed that furrowing of the brow that usually meant his friend was chewing on a puzzle to which he couldn't figure out the answer.

"Okay. I know this is going to sound crazy. But have you noticed how much Danny, Dan, and Elle all look like each other?"

"Can't say I have," Dash admitted, trying to figure out where Kwan's train of thought was heading. "But they are cousins. Shouldn't they look like each other?"

"Not so much that they could almost be triplets," Kwan argued, his mouth pursing. "And you're giving me that look like I'm crazy."

"I'm just having a hard time trying to understand where exactly you're going with this." The only explanation Dash could think of was that Kwan was still digging for an excuse to avoid getting into a real relationship with a man. "Xander, you're not getting that horn." He gave his son a stern look even as Xander tried his pleading puppy dog eyes. With a pout, Xander put the blue plastic horn back on the shelf. "What does it matter how closely they look like each other? Are you trying to say they have a reason to be lying about being cousins?"

"I," Kwan frowned, "don't know." He scratched at his head, like he was trying to figure out an explanation to that question. "But - Okay. What about this? When I was at Danny's house, they showed me a photo album that was full of pictures with Danny as a child."

"You were at Fenton's house?" Dash lifted an eyebrow in surprise.

"Well, yeah. We went over there after Dan decided to make the lasagna. But that's not the point." Kwan sighed tiredly at the interruption. "What I was trying to get at is that there were no photos of Elle or Dan anywhere in there. If they're such close cousins, as they appear to be now, why aren't there any pictures of young Danny hanging out with his cousins?"

"Maybe they're just not in that photo album," Dash offered, though he could feel an inkling of doubt after listening to his friend. Why wouldn't Fenton keep pictures of his cousins in the photo album?

"I've been telling myself to stop thinking on it ever since I got home last night, but," Kwan raked a hand through his raven locks, "it just seems too suspicious. I mean, maybe I am making too big a deal out of nothing. But what if it does means something? What if there's some big secret they're all hiding? And isn't it weird that their names are so similar? Danny, Dan, and Elle which could be short for Danielle?"

"Have you thought of perhaps asking him why there were no pictures of him? Or about the names?" Dash shook his head when Xander held up a toy that look like it had a million tiny parts that needed to be assembled. With a pout, Xander returned it to the shelf before hurrying off again to look for another toy to catch his eyes. Dash had to admit the whole name thing had slipped right past him. He really hadn't thought all that much about how strange it was that cousins had basically the same name and looked so closely alike. Now that Kwan pointed it out though, Dash couldn't deny how suspicious it all seemed. Then adding that to how they all seemed to magically pop up at Fenton's house whenever they liked, he really began to wonder what was going on with Fenton. Perhaps there _was_ something they were all hiding.

"I figured he probably wouldn't tell me the truth."

"Kwan, seriously, just talk to him about it. Because right now, you're sounding kind of paranoid. If you start trying to tell me you think his identity is a fraud, I-" Dash shook his head, not sure what he would do. "Talk to him before you drive yourself crazy with these thoughts." _And before you start making me go all paranoid too_ , he added to himself.

"Watch where you're going, daddy's boy!"

Dash groaned when he recognized the voice of the second grade bully Jeremy. When they rounded the corner, he saw Jeremy standing over Xander, who sat on the floor.

"What are you going to do now?" Jeremy taunted. "Cry?" He pretended to have his lower lip quiver while making rubbing motions at his eyes. "Or go run to your daddy because you got a little boo-boo?"

"I'm not scared of you," Xander argued, though Dash could see a slight shaking in his son. "And you shouldn't tease me! I - I'll sic my ghost dog on you! Then you'll be sorry!"

"Ghost dog?" Jeremy burst out laughing. "I think that stupid Invisi-Will or whatever you love so much has finally gone to your head." He made a circling motion with one finger at the side of his head.

"He's real!" Xander argued.

"What's going on here?" Dash stepped in, glaring down at Jeremy, who took one look at him and Kwan and made the smart decision to run away. He crouched down beside his son and didn't miss the flicker of fear in Xander's bright blue eyes. "Are you okay?"

"Y-Yeah," Xander mumbled, climbing to his feet. "Jeremy pushed me down." His head was bowed, raven hair spilling down to hide his eyes as Xander played with the hem of his shirt. "You-" he started hesitantly. "You didn't hear that, right?"

"About the ghost dog?" Dash frowned, mulling over that part of the conversation he overheard. Watching the old clips of Phantom from his high school days was like watching quick scenes from a superhero series, and Dash doubted his son paid too much attention to the whole ghost aspect, which was good because Dash didn't want his son having nightmares about ghosts.

Xander nodded, still keeping his head down and his hands tightly curled around the fabric of his shirt.

"Xander, ghosts-"

"He's real!" Xander argued as his head snapped up and determination sparkled in his eyes. "I saw him! He was a cute little green puppy with red eyes," he pointed at his own eyes, "and a purple tongue." He pinched his tongue between his forefinger and thumb. "And he could walk through things. It was so cool!"

Dash eyed his son with some wariness. "When did you see a ghost dog?"

"At school!" Xander answered promptly with a grin. Something seemed to occur him immediately after he replied, and panic flashed in his eyes. "I wasn't supposed to say anything. I promised Lex! It was our secret!"

"Lex showed you the ghost dog?"

"Cujo just sort of," Xander shrugged, "showed up. You're not going to tell, are you? Pwease!" He clapped his hands together as he begged. "I promised not to tell about Cujo." Tears started building up in his eyes. "I don't want Lex to hate me."

"I won't say anything." Dash pulled Xander into his arms as his son cried. He rubbed his hand up and down Xander's back, comforting him. It didn't surprise him that Lex knew something about ghosts with grandparents who were ghost hunters. Fenton probably told his son to keep everything he knew about ghosts quiet so that his son didn't have to grow with that same stigma that Fenton did with his parents being the town crazies. Dash knew the man received a lot of teasing because of all the ghost talk his parents blathered on about, since a lot of that teasing came from himself. But even if Dash said nothing, there was still Jeremy to rat out that Xander said something about the ghost dog. "You aren't scared of the ghost? Now that you know they're real?"

"Cujo is a nice puppy," Xander answered between sobs and hiccups. "He was our secret puppy. And now I've ruined it! Lex is going to hate me!"

"Xander, I'm sure Lex isn't going to hate you," Kwan said comfortingly as he crouched down to join them. "I'm sure he'll understand that it was an accident. You're his friend, and he really likes you."

"How about after we buy you a soccer ball, we go visit Lex and his father?" Dash suggested as he stood, holding Xander in his arms. "You can talk to Lex about what happen. And you," he looked toward Kwan, "can talk to Dan."

"You know, I think I had something to do today." Kwan laughed nervously.

"No," Dash said firmly, narrowing dark blue eyes at his friend, "you're coming along. I won't listen to any of your excuses." He led the way over to where the store kept the sports balls. After checking on a few of them, he found one that didn't seem quite as flat as the other balls. Once he paid for the soccer ball, they left the mall. Xander was still sniffling and wiping at his teary eyes as Dash buckled him into the backseat of the car. Kwan wore a grumpy expression as he sat in the passenger's seat. With a sigh, Dash started the car, thinking of what a fun ride this was going to be with a teary child and a grumpy friend. At least it wouldn't be too long a ride to Fenton's house.


	30. Chapter 30

"Are you getting this?" Danny questioned holding out his cell phone as he followed his son floating through the air. He couldn't wipe the proud smile off his face.

"Yes, Danny, I can see it just fine," Jazz replied in a slightly exasperated tone, but when he flipped the phone around, Danny saw a smile on her face. "It's good to see his powers are progressing well."

"Yeah, well," Danny frowned a little as his gaze slid toward Skulker, who was passed out in a corner by that point with Hunter asleep on his chest, "Skulker seems to think I should have started training him a lot sooner."

"He has his way of raising his child, and you have your way," Jazz said, shaking her head. "I get that it's important for Lex to get a handle on his powers, but you have to remember that he's not going out to save the world every week, like a certain someone." She smirked a bit at her brother. "Just go at whatever pace is best for Lex."

"Auntie Jazz! Auntie Jazz!" Lex cried as he floated over and wrapped his arms around his father's neck. "Did you see? I can fly now!" He grinned widely at his achievement.

"I saw! That's so amazing." Jazz returned with a smile. "Soon you'll be soaring through the skies like a bird. Ah, it feels like just yesterday you were still crawling around in diapers." She pretended to wipe at teary eyes as she reminisced about the past, and Danny knew that feeling. Sometimes he kept thinking that it felt like the time flew by in the blink of the eye. But other times, the last three, growing close to four years, crawled by at a snail's pace.

"Auntie Jazz!" Lex whined with an embarrassed blush coloring his cheeks.

"They grow up fast, huh?" Danny grinned as he ruffled his son's hair. "So," he turned a grin onto his sister, "will Lex have a little cousin to play with someday?"

"Danny!" Jazz blushed furiously at the question. "We haven't even talked about the possibility of kids. Tucker has his work, and I have my practice. I don't know that either of us are really at that point where we want to take the time off to raise children. And if we have children, well, I don't rely on a nanny to raise my child for me."

Danny nodded because he could totally understand wanting to be the one raising his child. It was one of the reasons being a writer turned out to be such a great career choice for him since he could stay home to watch over Lex while Sam worked. "Well, Tucker could make arrangements to work from home sometimes, couldn't he?" He blinked a few times. "Wait. But Tucker got transferred to Washington, and your practice is in New York. Are you going to move to Washington to be with him?"

"Well, I guess it's possible that he could do some of his work from home, but I think most of his work needs a bigger processing computer than a regular laptop or desktop computer." Jazz sighed tiredly. "The whole long distance thing really hasn't been all that easy, but the transfer isn't a permanent thing. The Washington branch needed his help with a project, but it should be finished before June. Then he'll have the option to put in a transfer to the New York branch."

"Okay. Not to be the downer, but let me play devil's advocate for a moment," Danny said and winced prematurely. "What if things don't work out that way and he ends up staying in Washington? Would you be willing to move and start a new practice in Washington?"

"You should move here with us," Lex suggested, grinning while he continued to hug his arms around his father's neck as his feet floated in the air.

"Maybe," Jazz said playfully before she addressed her brother's question. "I guess if I had to, moving to Washington probably wouldn't be that bad. I'd have to refer my current patients to other psychologists in the area. I don't really like the idea of having to restart in another town, but I love Tucker. If I have to move to stay with him, I'll just have adjust to a new place."

"I hope things go the way you want, but it's always good to have a backup plan just in case they don't." Danny winced. "I wouldn't want my best friend and my sister to have resentment toward each other right off the bat when they got married because of where they end up living."

Jazz rolled her aqua colored eyes at him. "We're not going to have any resentment toward each other. But I guess it would be wise to discuss this sort of thing with Tucker."

Danny frowned as he glanced up toward the ceiling after feeling a chill run through him. "Looks like I've got guests."

"Hey, dipstick," Ember said as she phased through the ceiling with Desiree.

"Ember! Desiree! Look! Look!" Lex released his hold on his father. With a kick of his feet, he drifted forward toward where the women landed on the floor of the laboratory.

"Oh! Someone's learning to fly!" Desiree smiled as she caught the boy and hugged him.

"Skulker had problems with Hunter?" Ember lifted an eyebrow as she turned toward Danny after catching sight of Skulker and Hunter.

"He didn't know about burping." Danny tried not to laugh.

Ember sighed, her shoulders drooping somewhat. "Well, at least I had one night of relaxing." She walked over to Skulker and gave him a kick in the foot to jerk him after his dozing.

"I'll get you!" Skulker shouted as he sat up, and Hunter slid down into his lap.

"How's my brave little Hunter?" Ember picked up the baby.

"Mama!" Hunter waved hands at her before she hugged the infant to her.

"Well, it seems you didn't completely traumatize our child." Ember stood with one hip jutting out as she glared down at the hunter ghost.

"Okay!" Skulker complained throwing his arms up as he climbed to his feet. "I get the point you were trying to make. I need to be more active, beyond just the training aspect. But you have to understand that I don't know anything about raising a child."

Ember rolled her eyes at the poor excuse. "I didn't know anything either. I've been learning this on my own." She shot a glower at Danny when he coughed. "Okay. I've had some help from the dipstick. But you," she pointed a finger against Skulker's chest plate, "have to stop shirking on your fatherly duties."

"Okay. Okay!" Skulker huffed. "I'll be a more active father."

"Well, if you've learned your lesson, I guess that makes everything A-okay." Ember rolled her eyes, still with a scowl upon her face

"You're seriously still angry with me?"

"You two seriously need to stop this." Danny sighed tiredly as he turned toward Desiree. "Is it some ghost code that I missed out on that says they always have to fight? The whole counselor to the ghost thing is really becoming a drain on me."

"That's what happens when you sign up to be the hero," Desiree said, but she held a teasing note in her voice.

"It keeps things interesting, I guess." Ember shrugged. "It gets a little boring if everything's all perfect and peaceful."

Danny guessed he could almost, sort of understand her point. He and Sam didn't always agree on every little detail. One point being training Lex to fight at a young age. But with her strong personality, Sam was always finding some cause to support, which sometimes led to them butting heads over it.

"Anyway, thanks for the help, whelp," Skulker said, and seeing him and Ember actually looking like parents doting on their child was still a strange sight for Danny. "I guess it's time to head home now." They waved to the others before the stepped through the Portal to head back to their combined lair.

"I'd love to get a chance to actually sit down with one of them and pick at their brains," Jazz said, reminding Danny that he had a video phone call open with her.

"Maybe I'll send them to you next time they have a problem," Danny offered. "I should probably let you get back to work now. I'll call you later." After exchanging goodbyes, he hung up the phone and shoved it into his pocket. His blue eyes strayed over to Desiree, who held Lex over her head as the boy made rumbling noises that sounded more like a motorcycle than an airplane. "Are you in need of counseling too?"

Desiree glanced his way as she lowered Lex then set him on the floor. "Me?" She laughed, but there was an awkward note to it. "Are you forgetting that I'm not currently in a relationship? Why would I need counseling?"

"You can talk to me about more than just relationships," Danny pointed out as the doorbell ringing reached even to the laboratory. He sighed, wondering who that would be since most of the people he knew could easily phase into his house or enter through the Portal. It could be his neighbors. The one that lived behind his house was pretty nice. "I'm always willing to offer advice if I can."

Desiree's mouth twitched in a small smile. "In some ways, you and Dan are a lot alike," she said, and Danny wasn't too sure he liked the comparison. "You should probably go answer the door." She crouched down and hugged Lex. "See you later. And good job with the flying." She ruffled his blond locks before heading through the Portal.

"So who do you think is at the door?" Danny questioned as he led the way up the stairs. Once they were in the kitchen, he made sure to close the door to the laboratory.

"Xan!" Lex answered with a big smile.

"You just saw him this morning." Danny placed his hands on his hips as he stared down at his son.

"But who else would ring the doorbell?" Lex blinked owlishly at his father.

Danny admitted his son had a point there. Heading toward the front door, he checked who it was before opening the door. "Dash," he greeted stunned to see the man on his doorstep. "And Kwan?" He stepped aside to let the men enter his house. "Uh, what brings you here?"

"First off," Dash pointed a thumb at his friend, "Kwan here needs to have words with your cousin."

Danny frowned, uncertain that he would like this conversation. "What did Dan do now?" He folded his arms, resisting the urge to go hunt down Dan and have words of his own with his evil future.

Kwan shook his head. "Nothing. I just," he tugged awkward at an earlobe, "need to ask him about something."

"He's not here right now. But I can tell him you wanted to talk the next time I see him." Danny felt a trickle of worry at this whole "need to ask him about something" thing.

"What's wrong with Xan?" Lex asked, tugging at the blond man's pant leg. At that question, Danny turned his attention onto the little raven haired boy, who had his head buried against his father's neck. He grew concerned when he saw that.

"That would be the other reason we stopped by." Dash set his son down, and Xander immediately turned into him, pressing his face between his father's legs. With a sigh, he turned his son back around to face Lex. Xander's eyes were red and puffy with tear stains down his face, which made Danny even more worried about the boy. "Go on." Dash gave his son a gentle nudge toward the other boy. "Tell him what happened."

Danny lifted his brows curiously at Dash, wondering what all of this was about, but the man seemed set on having his son explain everything.

"We - We were at the toy store, and - and Jeremy was there," Xander said, staring down at his feet as he twisted his shirt in his hands. His sniffled, fresh tears falling from his eyes and snot dribbling from his nose. "He pushed me down, and he was being mean. I - I wanted to brave like Lex. And - And I didn't mean for it to happen, but I told him I'd get Cujo to - to scare him." His sniffles turned into full blown sobbing. "Please don't hate me!"

"Wait," Danny mumbled as the words struck him. "Did he say Cujo?" When he heard the "eep," he dropped his gaze to his son, who had his shoulders hunched up and a guilty look on his face. "Lex," he said sternly, placing his hands on his hips. Panic made his heart beat a touch faster. If Lex let things slip about Cujo, specifically the ghost part, what else did his son let slip?

"Cujo showed up at school," Lex explained, wincing at the look on his father's face. "It was only me and Xan though. No one else saw him."

"Please don't be mad at him!" Xander begged between sobs. "It's my fault! I - I let the secret slip out."

"I'm not mad at him." Danny knelt down and patted the boy atop his head. Then he turned to his son. "Did you tell him anything else?" he asked in a soft whisper that the others wouldn't be able to overhear.

Lex shook his head, gazing sadly at the floor. "I only told him about Cujo," he answered in an equally quiet voice.

Relief flooded him at that answer. Danny tried to stress the point about keeping their secret from being revealed to others, but Lex was still young and bound to make mistakes. "You weren't scared of Cujo?" Danny asked Xander. "Even knowing he was a ghost?"

"He - He was a nice puppy," Xander answered in a small voice. His blue eyes turned to Lex. "Do - Do you hate me now?" He frowned, lower lip jutting out in a sad pout.

Lex glanced at his father then hugged the other boy. "It wasn't your fault. Jeremy's a dumb face."

"Lex, name calling is rude," Danny said with usual fatherly sternness.

"But he is," Xander argued, his voice muffled against his friend.

"Can't really argue there," Dash mumbled, and when Danny glanced up at him, the blond man turned away, trying to look innocent of the comment.

"See?" Kwan knelt down to ruffle Xander's hair. "We told you Lex wouldn't hate you."

"But I broke my promise," Xander whined, his arms clinging tighter to his friend. "Breaking promises is bad."

Dash crouched down to join them. He rest a hand on his son's back, rubbing it soothingly. "Breaking promises can be bad, yes. But it doesn't always mean that the other person is going to automatically hate you. If you explain things and talk it out so the other person can understand why you broke your promise, they might forgive you."

"You know what I think this calls for?" Danny questioned as he stood. "Some ice cream." That got immediate cheers out of the boys. Xander rubbed an arm across his face, trying to wipe away tears and snot on the sleeve of his shirt. Lex led the way into the kitchen. "Uh," Danny started awkwardly before the adults could follow. "I know you probably don't want Xander hanging around where ghosts are." He rubbed at the back of his neck with a frown.

"If anyone's going to understand why you wanted your son keeping something like that secret, it's us," Dash said, patting him on the shoulder. "We weren't exactly nice about your parents' ghost obsession. But we're probably also the only ones that would even believe in something like a ghost dog. But," Dash frowned, "I am concerned about any other ghosts that might come hanging around. I know this isn't Amity Park. But if a ghost dog follows you here to play with your son, what other ghosts from Amity Park might show up here? And what sort of ghosts already exist here?"

Danny laughed a little awkwardly. All this talk about ghosts was making him more than a little uncomfortable. He felt like they were straying far too closely to his secret coming out, especially if Dash and Kwan started questioning why any ghost would follow him all the way from Amity Park. "Trust me. I wouldn't allow any ghost that might harm the children anywhere near them."

Dash bumped a fist against Danny's shoulder. "I know you wouldn't let anything dangerous near your son. But you can't blame me for being concerned, right? I've seen a lot of what ghosts are capable of doing."

Danny remained tense about the whole conversation. "I guess I should be happy that this came up with you instead of some other parent. Any other parent would probably be freaking out about their child meeting with a ghost, even a nice one like Cujo. Assuming they didn't just pass it off as lies, which would probably just get me labeled as the town crazy like my parents were." He laughed weakly, wondering how Dash could be so relaxed about this. The blond man was almost acting like they were right back in Amity Park and a ghost popping up every week wasn't something about which to be concerned. If anyone should be having a big freak out over their child meeting with a ghost, it should be Dash, who knew exactly how scary an encounter with a ghost could be.

"I guess it helps that I'm used to the whole crazy ghost thing." Dash shrugged. "And I guess it really shouldn't be all that surprising that you would know a few ghosts after all the crazy stuff with your parents being ghost hunters."

"Dad!" Lex called from the kitchen. "You said we could have ice cream."

"I guess we should go get that ice cream," Danny suggested, heading for the kitchen with some relief to have an excuse to change the topic. The other two adults followed him into the kitchen, but Danny couldn't shake his nervousness about this whole incident. Hopefully, Dash and Kwan would continue believing that his relation with ghosts was based on his parents' work.


	31. Chapter 31

Kwan watched his students as they gathered around the cage with their new class bunny inside it. The bunny was donated from one of the parents as part of learning experience in how to care for animals. The students would be expected to feed it and give it water and clean the cage. Every weekend a student would be chosen to take it home and watch over it until Monday. "So," he said, loudly enough to be heard over the gasps of the children as they stared at the brown furred bunny, "shall we vote on a name? Who has suggestions?"

"Peter!" Billy cried out immediately with a bright grin on his face.

"Nu uh!" Melissa argued. "The bunny's a girl, so it should be, um," she pressed a finger to her chin as she pondered a name, "Snowbell!"

"It's not even white, dork," Jeremy said, snorting at the name suggestion. He was standing away from the group with his arms folded as he scowled at his classmates. Even Vincent stopped hanging around him for a while now. Jeremy seemed to have gone from the big bad bully to the class outcast.

"Jeremy," Kwan said warningly with a stern glare at the boy. "How many times do I have to tell you that name calling won't be tolerated?" He narrowed his aqua green eyes, and Jeremy grumbled as he looked away. Turning back to the other students, he said, "It was a very nice name suggestion, Melissa." He wrote the names on the board. "Does anyone else have a name to add?"

"Thumper," Denise suggested, though her voice was much quieter than the others that were throwing out names.

"Bouncer," Henry offered.

"Flopsy," Julia shouted.

"Dasher," Xander said, crouching down with his eyes level to the bunny. Kwan didn't miss the pinkness coloring his cheeks after giving his suggestion.

"Okay. Let's vote. Who wants to name the bunny Peter? Raise your hands." Kwan counted the number of hands that went up into the air and wrote the number beside the name. He repeated it down the list until a number was next to each name. "It looks like the winner is: Bouncer." He noticed Henry puff out his chest in pride at having his name suggestion chosen.

The bell rang a second later, and the students hurriedly grabbed their things to leave. Some of them actually looked sad, wanting to stay and play with the bunny. Kwan caught Jeremy before he could leave the classroom and crouched down in front of him. The boy refused to look at him, glowering at the wall.

"Jeremy, I know what it's like to be a bully," Kwan told him quietly so that Xander and Lex wouldn't overhear. The other two boys remained at the bunny's cage, sticking their fingers through the bars to try to get the bunny to come close enough so that they could pet Bouncer. "But you're just going to grow up to be miserable if you continue like this." He could already see the start of it now that his one friend abandoned the boy.

"You don't know anything!" Jeremy argued, yanking away from his teacher, but Kwan grabbed him before he could race out of the classroom. Something in the boy's expression worried Kwan.

"Explain it to me then," Kwan said, refusing to let the boy go until he got some answers.

Jeremy still wouldn't look at him, but the tears that started to build up in his eyes really got his teacher worried. "My," the boy hiccupped, "parents are," tears slipped down his cheeks, "getting deversed."

Kwan's jaw dropped, stunned by that response. He seriously hadn't expected that, though he couldn't say he wasn't surprised that Mr. Duvall was finally leaving his witch of a wife. "Hey," he said gently, lifting the boy's head so that he could meet eyes with his student. Jeremy sniffed, trying to hold back tears but failing. "Parents getting divorced is always hard for their children, but whatever happens, it isn't your fault that your parents are splitting up." His parents had never gotten divorced but there were other students at Casper High that had divorced parents, and he heard a lot of them blaming themselves for the divorce. "Okay?"

Jeremy nodded his head. Getting to his feet, Kwan snatched up a tissue from his desk and helped clean the boy's face of tears. After he blew his nose, Jeremy darted out the door of the classroom. With a sigh, Kwan dumped the dirty tissue into the trash can. When he glanced toward Xander and Lex, he frowned. Children their age shouldn't have to deal with things like death of a parent or divorce. Unfortunately, the world wasn't exactly fair.

Kwan sat down at his desk, getting things ready for going home. He glanced toward the door then to the clock. Danny usually came by soon after the end of school to pick up his son. Fifteen minutes passed before he heard footsteps nearing the classroom. Lex's head jerked up as his gaze snapped toward the doorway.

"Uncle Dan!" Lex cried out before the man even appeared. He darted over to the door, and Dan picked him up and lifted him into the air.

"Did you have a fun day at school, little bro?" Dan questioned, and Kwan's brow furrowed at that nickname for the boy.

"Look! We got a bunny!" When he was set back on the ground, Lex grabbed hold of Dan's hand and pulled him over to the cage. "His name is Bouncer."

Dan nodded at the bunny before his dark blue eyes turned onto the raven haired boy. "Hey there, little man." He grinned as he ruffled the boy's hair.

Kwan frowned as he watched the interaction. There was nothing wrong with the man talking with the boys, but Kwan felt a little grumpy over being ignored by Dan, receiving not even a hello when the man entered the room. They hadn't seen each other since Saturday night, and it was now Thursday. Picking up his briefcase, he stood up and walked over to where the others stood around the bunny's cage.

"Ready to head home, Xander?" Kwan questioned as he placed a hand on the boy's head.

"So Danny mentioned you wanted to talk to me about something?"

When he glanced toward the man, Kwan found a frown pulling down on Dan's face. "Not in front of the boys." He wanted answers to the things that kept bugging him ever since Saturday night, but he didn't think implying the man was a liar was the wisest move to make in front two young children.

"Then we can head to Danny's house," Dan suggested. "Danny can watch over the boys, and we can have ourselves a chat." If Kwan looked really hard, he might admit he saw a bit of worry flicker in those dark blue eyes.

With a sigh, Kwan agreed because it seemed like the most logical option at that moment. He did, after all, want to have that chat with Dan. They left the classroom and headed out of the school to the parking lot. Kwan unlocked the doors, and after getting the boys settled into the back seat, the two adults climbed into the front seats. Silence reigned between the two men as Kwan drove toward Danny's house.

"So," Kwan said, chewing on his lower lip as he sought some sort of topic of conversation to break up the awkward quietness, "where exactly do you live?" He glanced curiously toward Dan. "Only because, you know, you seem to visit Danny a lot, but you don't seem like you have your own place here."

Dan leaned back in his seat as he folded his arms. "Out of town," he answered vaguely, which didn't help to clear up any of the questions in Kwan's mind, instead serving to add to the questions circling inside his head.

"Out of town where?"

"That's one of those complicated questions that I can't answer."

Kwan's hands tightened around the steering wheel. As happy as he was that Dan wasn't spewing out lies to him, the whole "I can't answer that" thing was equally frustrating to him. Is that all he would hear during this conversation he wanted to have with the man? If that was how it would be, then talking to Dan would be pointless.

When they arrived at the house, Kwan and Dan helped the boys out of the backseat. The boys were quick to race to the front door, Lex winning by half a second and doing a victory cheer. Dan unlocked the door for them, and the boys pushed their way into the house, eager to play with each other.

"Whoa!" Danny shouted from the front room when the boys ran into it. "What's going on?" he asked, appearing in the doorway to the front room with the two boys latched onto his legs. A puzzled look appeared on his face, brows pinching as he blinked at them from behind his glasses.

"You're on babysitting duty," Dan explained with half a smirk as the boys asked if they could have ice cream. "Genius here and I apparently need to have a private chat."

"Okay," Danny said uncertainly as he glanced between them. "I haven't made any more ice cream." He placed his hands on his hips as he frowned down at the boys. "But I can get you some chopped veggies with dip." After some consideration, the boys agreed that would all right for a snack. They followed Danny into the kitchen.

"So what did you need to chat about?" Dan walked into the front room and took a seat on the couch.

Kwan hesitated before joining the other man. He glanced sideways at Dan as he rubbed sweaty palms on his pants in nervousness. "Okay. I know this probably makes me sound crazy."

"Trust me when I say I've seen a lot of crazy."

"I'm not sure if I should take that as a good thing or a bad thing." Kwan frowned with a bland stare at the raven haired man.

Dan shrugged. "It's probably not so much a good thing. But continue."

Kwan raked a hand through his short locks as he sighed. "That whole you look an awful lot like Danny keeps circling through my head."

"We're cousins," Dan reminded, like everyone else.

"Yes, I know." Kwan rolled his eyes. "But even cousins don't look as much alike as the three of you do. Then there was the whole photo album thing. You aren't in any of them. Neither was Elle. Did you never play with Danny when you were children?" His expression darkened when Dan remained silent. "You said you went to my football games freshmen year, but the only Fentons that went to Casper High at that time were Danny and his sister Jazz." He closed his eyes briefly, knowing this next part would make him sound completely insane. "I looked into it, and Danny's father is an only child. His mother has a sister, but she's never had children. How are you cousins?"

"I can't-"

"If you are seriously going to tell me you can't answer just who exactly you are, I'm taking Xander and leaving and never talking to you again." Kwan glowered at the man beside him. He realized that sounded pretty extreme, but it was frustrating to have the man continue to dodge questions by saying he couldn't answer it truthfully.

Dan frowned, remaining silent for several moments. Then with a frustrated growl, he climbed to his feet and left the room. Kwan blinked at the man's back before he disappeared, feeling too stunned with that response to think of what to do. After a moment, Dan returned as he ushered Danny into the room.

"Okay. Here's the thing," Dan said, still wearing a frown. "I can't answer your questions without revealing something about him." He thrust a thumb at Danny, who blinked in obvious confusion. "And I'm not going to do that for a number of reasons."

"You want to explain to me what exactly this is about?" Danny questioned, eying the pair of them.

"He's asking about why we look so much alike," Dan explained as he folded his arms.

"He's the first one to even notice that," Danny mumbled, holding a hand to chin as he frowned.

"And we might have made the mistake of showing him the photo album with the pictures from when you were younger." Dan scratched absently at his cheek as he looked away.

Danny shot a glare at his cousin. "You're a real idiot, aren't you?"

"Why is he an idiot for that?" Kwan asked, brow pinching as his gaze drifted between the two cousins. He was having a hard time following their conversation.

"Dan usually is an idiot," Danny answered flatly.

"Hey!" Dan protested with an even grouchier frown. "You know, calling _me_ an idiot is like-"

"Shut up, Dan." Danny sighed as he turned his gaze onto Kwan. "So you realized Dan and I look a lot alike and that there are no photos of Dan when he was younger, is that it?"

"And Elle," Dan added, which earned him an elbow rammed into his ribs.

"And there's no evidence of Dan or Elle ever being born," Kwan said, wondering what sort answer his inquiry would get out of Danny. "Does Valerie know that the woman she's dating has zero record of existing anywhere until she was twelve?"

"Val knows everything," Dan answered, shrugging.

"Oh?" Kwan lifted an eyebrow, frowning even more at them. "So Valerie gets to know everything while I have to sit in the dark and only get snippets of the truth? How am I supposed to trust you enough to actually act on any feelings I might have for you?" Kwan glared at Dan, who turned his gaze onto Danny.

After a long moment of the two cousins staring at each other, Danny released an exasperated sigh. "You seriously want me to reveal my biggest secret? Just like that?" he demanded, frowning at Dan.

"I know this is a really big favor to ask of you," Dan said, rubbing at his neck. "But," he glanced Kwan's way, "I'm really trying to make this work, and there are so many questions I can't answer without him knowing exactly who I am."

Danny stared, surprise splashed across his face. "You really care a lot about him."

Dan rolled dark blue eyes. "Duh!"

"You know, acting like a dick isn't going to make me want to help you." Danny folded his arms as he frowned at his cousin. After another long staring contest between them, Danny heaved a sigh. "Okay. But," he pointed a finger right between Dan's eyes, "if you screw things up with him, I'm going to make you pay for making me out myself like this. Now go watch the kids." Danny walked over to take a seat on the couch as Dan headed back toward the kitchen. He sighed, nudging up his glasses as he pinched at the bridge of his nose.

"I'm getting this feeling that I should be worried about what you're going to tell me," Kwan said, watching the man beside him like he was expecting a second, and possibly a third, head to spring from Danny's body.

Danny leaned back against the couch as he folded his arms. "Dan really better appreciate me doing this," he muttered. "Argh! I can't believe I'm actually going to do this!" He rubbed at his head like he was experiencing a terrible migraine. "Okay. What we talk about here, you have to promise never to mention one word about. Not even to Dash or Paulina."

"Yeah, okay. I promise." Kwan nodded, growing all the more curious about this big secret.

Danny got up and made sure all the blinds on the windows were closed so that no one outside could see into the room. "The reason," he explained as he returned to the couch, "Dan couldn't tell you a lot about himself is because, well," he rubbed awkwardly at his neck, "Dan is me." He winced in wait of the man's reaction.

After a few blinks, Kwan laughed. "What are you talking about?" He seriously wondered if Danny had a few screws loose after that kind of explanation.

"Yeah, I know that sounds pretty crazy, but it's the truth." Danny folded his arms as he glared down at Kwan. "He's me from another timeline where I turned evil after my family and friends and Lancer got blown up after an accident at the Nasty Burger all because I cheated on the stupid CAT."

"And you let him near your son?" Kwan shook his head, still not believing any of this. Evil futures? Alternate timelines? Did Danny think this was some kind of science fiction novel?

"Well, he's changed a lot since then." Danny shrugged. "And I know just how unbelievable this all sounds. Heck, I," he jabbed a finger into his chest, "wouldn't believe it if it didn't all happen to me."

"So if he's your evil future," Kwan said, trying to suspend his disbelief for two seconds, "what does that make Elle? You from an alternate world in which you were born female?"

"Ha ha," Danny mock laughed. "Actually," his shoulders slumped as he sighed, "she's my clone."

"Okay. Just what the heck is going on with your life if you have clones and evil futures?" Kwan thought his head would fall off from how much his brain seemed to be spinning at the moment. How was any of this even true? But he was beginning to understand why Dan couldn't give him any straight answers. The whole evil future and clone thing would be one explanation for why the two didn't have any birth records, assuming that was the truth behind them.

"Like I said, this doesn't go beyond this room." Danny took a breath, and Kwan nearly jumped out of his seat when the rings of light appeared around Danny's waist. In a moment, the raven haired man was changed into a man with slicked back white hair. He pushed tinted goggles up on top of his head, showing off vibrant green eyes. Despite the changes to his attire, the man standing before him was clearly the ghost known as Phantom. "My life hasn't exactly been normal since I was fourteen."

"Holy-" Kwan stared, stunned with his mouth opened. How was he even supposed to react to this? Danny Fenton, the man he used to harass as a high school bully, turned out to be Danny Phantom, the ghost hero of Amity Park? "How is that even possible? I mean, you're not dead. How are you-" He gestured awkwardly at the man in front of him.

"Accident with my parents Portal. I activated it while inside. Painful, thought I was really going to die painful. Electricity coursing through me. Ectoplasm got mixed into my DNA, and I wound up with ghost powers." Danny shrugged like that was all no big deal, a common everyday experience for everyone. "Ghosts attacked, so I started fighting them protect the town." He reached up and rubbed at the back of his head, an embarrassed flush tingeing his cheeks green. "Then the CAT came up, and that's when I first met this ghost called Clockwork, who pretty much watches over the whole of time. And I had to fight Dan to stop him from making sure my friends and family and Lancer died in the explosion at the Nasty Burger. But after I won, Dan still existed outside of time. But I promise you, he's good now. Well," he chuckled awkwardly, "he's still a dick, but he's not all evil like he once was."

"I'm not sure how to respond to all of that." Kwan leaned forward, pressing his head into his hands for fear that his head would simply spin right off his neck. This whole time Danny was Phantom? "Oh man," he mumbled, lifting his gaze to Danny. "All through high school, we were beating up on our hero. Oh man, if Dash ever knew - Not that I'm going to tell him!" he said quickly because this certainly wasn't his secret to spill to someone else. "Just if Dash ever found out about you, man," he shook his head, "I think he'd freak out."

"I'm," Danny scratched at his cheek, "kind of surprised he didn't flip out about the whole ghost dog thing."

"Well, he probably really hates that a ghost might be hanging around his son," Kwan said, leaning back as he folded his arms. "But he wants to set a good example. He doesn't want Xander picking up his bad habits from his days as a bully." He blinked several times as he snapped toward Danny. "Wait. If you're all ghostly, does that mean Lex is too?"

"Yeah," Danny answered awkwardly. "Oh! But now that you know, if you catch him accidentally using his powers at school, you won't freak out. And," he grimaced, "maybe you could figure out an excuse to explain any weirdness that happens so that no one finds out."

Kwan nodded, understanding the man's concern. Being a parent alone was no easy task. Having to worry about a secret like that one probably made parenting about a thousand times harder. "Yeah, sure, of course." He rubbed at his forehead. "This is just a lot to take in."

"Yeah," Danny agreed with a weak laugh. "Welcome to the crazy club."

"Do I get a T-shirt?" Kwan tried to joke, but the whole thing still had him feeling like he just got into something way over his head. He was going to need some time to get used to this new knowledge about Danny. Maybe a lot of time.


	32. Chapter 32

"You're really regretting telling him, aren't you?" Dan asked carefully as his dark blue eyes slid toward his younger half.

Danny shot him an annoyed glare over the top of his laptop while he worked on his next novel. Then he released a tired sigh. "I think Kwan is capable of keeping a secret," he admitted, though he frowned as he tapped his fingers absently over the keys of the laptop. "But if I just gave away my biggest secret to someone and you ruin things with him, I will kick your gluteus maximus and banish you from ever seeing Lex again."

"That's why I've been trying to be honest with him," Dan said with his chin resting on one hand. A week already passed since the whole big reveal to Kwan happened, but every time Dan went to meet the man, things remained a bit strained between them. He sighed internally, wondering how long the man needed to fully accept the reality presented to him. He knew it was a lot to take in all at once, but the small chat between them was driving him mad. "I've seen enough relationships go to-" He glanced at the blond boy sitting at the end of the table with a book before him. Lex's mouth moved as his finger ran over the lines of text in the children's book. "I've seen enough couples break up when lies start getting thrown into the mix. That's why I was trying not to make stuff up whenever he asked me stuff. But," he waved his free hand, "obviously there was a lot I couldn't say because of you."

Danny sighed as he closed his laptop. "So do you want to explain this whole you liking Kwan thing? Because it's seriously throwing my head through a loop trying to figure out why you," he pointed a finger at his evil future, "have feelings for another guy. Because I swear, if this is just a game to you-" His face was livid with anger.

"It's not a game," Dan cut off in a very serious tone. "I'm quite serious about my interest in him, and I don't intend to ruin things." Meeting Danny's gaze, Dan smirked, unable to resist a little teasing. "But really, Danny, think about it. If Vlad isn't gay, as his obsession with your mom should tell you, what would _my_ ," he pressed a hand to his chest, "being gay tell you?"

"You have no idea how much I want to blast you in the face right now," Danny grumbled with a scowl, but Dan could just barely see that questioning flicker in those bright blue eyes. The doorbell rang, and with a tired sigh, Danny set his laptop on the coffee table before he stood and headed toward the front hall to answer the door.

Dan scooted down to where Lex sat and leaned over to look at the book. "Enjoying the story, little bro?" He picked the blond boy up and settled him into the lap. "Which story are you reading?"

Lex tilted his head back to stare up at Dan. " _Athea in the Dark Kingdom_ ," he answered with a bright grin. "She's going to take down the evil king that's impre- impra-"

"Imprisoned her?" Dan offered, and Lex nodded in response.

"Isn't it strange how adorable he looks with a child?" Danny questioned, drawing Dan's attention to where his younger half stood in the doorway with another man at his side. "Sometimes, if I squint _really_ hard, I can almost imagine him having a child of his own." He grinned with a gleam in his eyes that told Dan the half ghost was enjoying this opportunity for payback against all those times that Dan teased him.

"Oh, so hilarious." Dan rolled his eyes as he picked Lex up and set the boy on his feet. His gaze drifted toward Kwan as he stood, shoving his hands in his pockets. He could feel the awkwardness already settling over them, and he really hated that. Having Danny reveal the truth to Kwan was supposed to help them grow closer, not drive this uncomfortable wedge between them.

"Well, I think it's time for another training session," Danny said, breaking the silence that fell over them. "Lex and I will be down in the lab." He picked up his son and left the room.

"He has his own lab?" Kwan asked, laughing a little once they were alone. "I guess he takes after his parents a lot."

"Well, with the whole ghost hunting thing, yeah." Dan snorted out a laugh. "But a lot more down to earth than his parents and not as obsessive, though he does work on the ghost hunting inventions here and there."

"I never imagined Danny being into tech." Kwan rubbed at the back of his neck. "But I guess he would have picked up some stuff from his parents." After a moment of awkwardly gazing around the room, he finally left the doorway and walked over to the couch to sit down. "So, I know things have been kind of, well, weird between us since last Thursday."

"Weird might be an understatement," Dan corrected, remaining where he stood.

"I know. I'm sorry." Kwan rubbed at his temple with one hand. "It's just - It was a lot to take in. Danny being Phantom all this time. You being some weird evil future version of him. I just needed the time to adjust to it all. This isn't exactly something I ever in my wildest dreams expected to find out. I knew there was something weird going on after I started questioning things. But I never imagined this!"

Dan shrugged, trying to pass it off as no big deal, but the whole strain between them was more than a little frustrating to him. "I get it. Anyone would need time to sit and think after learning something like that. Why do you think I've been giving you space?"

"And I do appreciate that." A smile ghosted across Kwan's face. "And I've also noticed the whole distance thing ever since Valentine's Day." He gestured between them with one hand.

"Well, after whole kissing fiascos, I figured it was best to keep my distance so I don't make another mistake." Dan rubbed at his face, recalling Danny's threat if he messed things up with Kwan. "I really want things to work out between us. I know I can act impulsively. It's one of my many flaws. And I guess now that Danny's spilled the beans about us, I can actually talk about, well, everything."

"Like the whole turning evil thing?" Kwan lifted a curious eyebrow at him.

"Yeah, that." Dan looked away then sighed. It had been a long time since he discussed anything about his own timeline with anyone, the last being Desiree, and he kept the conversation away from anything to do with the whole Nasty Burger incident. "Well, the whole thing started with the CAT." Dan hesitated then walked over to join Kwan on the couch, sitting with some space between them. "I managed to get hold of the answers, accidentally, and at the time, I was feeling a lot of pressure to do well on them. I mean, I had Jazz to live up to. How could I compete with her genius? Especially when I had ghosts every week coming out of the Ghost Zone to harass the town. I wasn't doing well with my grades because I didn't I have a lot of time to study while fighting ghosts and trying to make sure no one found out my secret. Needless to say, having the test answers in my hands was too strong a temptation to pass up. I cheated. But Jazz, just trying to protect me of course, told Lancer about the test answers, and he called my parents and me to the Nasty Burger. And," he took a breath, "there was an explosion. Sam, Tucker, Jazz, my parents, Lancer. They were all killed, and I hadn't been able to do anything to save them."

"And you turned evil just like that?" Kwan's brow pinched like he suspected he wasn't seeing the entire picture.

Dan shook his head. "No, I was sent to Vlad Masters. Having done research about ghosts as well, and knowing my secret already, he probably was the best choice for my guardian after all that." Dan frowned as he leaned forward. "I was in such pain. Every day felt like there was this knife driving deeper into my heart. I could actually feel this emptiness taking root inside me. It was all too much for me to handle." He lowered his dark blue eyes. "I asked Vlad for help. I just wanted all that pain and misery to go away so that I didn't have to feel them anymore. He invented these claw things that could rip out the ghostly essence from my human half. It," he hesitated as he glanced toward Kwan, "didn't exactly go that well. I didn't expect all that pain and misery to drive my ghost half insane with the grief. The running theory from most experts would tell you that all ghosts have an obsession. Once I was ripped free from my human half, well, you can pretty much guess that my misery over losing all the people I cared about became my obsession."

"I'm," Kwan reached out and took hold of Dan's hand, squeezing it tightly, "really sorry you had to go through something like that. It must have been a really horrible experience, and that's probably another understatement." He grimaced, biting his lip. "Do I want to ask what happened to your human half?"

"That is something better left unsaid." Dan watched the man closely, waiting for him to pull back or show some sign that he was disgusted with him. He could see the horror building in those aqua green eyes as Kwan probably imagined a thousand terrible things that could have happened. "I'm not proud of it. I was full ghost and driven by grief that I couldn't cope with. I already told you that I did a lot of horrible things and hurt a lot of people." He lowered his gaze again, realizing that after all his terrible deeds, he probably didn't deserve to be happy, with anyone.

"I can't say that really builds a lot of trust in you." Kwan winced but didn't loosen his hold on Dan's hand. "When you said you hurt a lot of people, I thought maybe you put a few people in the hospital, maybe broken some limbs or stabbed a few people. But now, I'm beginning to think you've done a lot worse. And," he turned his gaze away, "I'm pretty sure I don't want the details on that."

"Yeah, you really don't." Dan kept his gaze away from Kwan, still waiting on the man to rip his hand away.

"This is all a lot to take in." Kwan ran a hand through his raven locks. "So I'm guessing this whole alternate future is why you kept being all shocked that I became a teacher. Why is that exactly? And why exactly are you so interested in me?"

"After I was," Dan shrugged as he searched for a word, "born, I suppose you could call it, I went on a rampage and started amassing more power to become stronger. Amity Park, obviously, held a lot of importance for me. It's where most of my memories were from. So I returned there. And I may have tricked a few people into thinking I was still just normal Danny Fenton before unleashing some of my wrath on them. Valerie tried to talk to me once, but at that time, I was hardly in the state of mind to really listen to anything she had to say. I pretty much ensured she would never trust me again after I sliced off her father's arm." Dan dared to glance at the man beside and grimaced at the wide eyed horror. "You worked with them to develop a Ghost Shield based off my parents' work that would protect Amity Park from me. I never expected you to be such a mad genius when it came to ghost tech." He smirked, but it fell flat as he lowered his gaze.

"I helped make a Ghost Shield?" Kwan laughed. "That sounds a little unbelievable. And it doesn't really explain everything."

"In my time, your knack for ghost tech was greatly needed while I was causing mass destruction." Dan sighed as he leaned back against the couch. "Valerie gave up after that first time I tricked you all. You, on the other hand," he stared at Kwan, "still believed so much in the hero I once was. You and Dash both kept trying to get through to me, like if you got me to talk, somehow, I would remember being Danny Phantom, hero of Amity Park. Even after you finished construction on the Ghost Shield - You, by the way, were the lead man on that project - you still kept trying to reach out to me. I guess that's why you stuck out in my mind so much after we met when I picked up Lex. Seeing you again just brought back those memories. We actually talked a few times, late at night. I almost forgot about that."

"You did a lot of horrible things to other people. Why not to me?" Kwan blinked owlishly, the gears grinding in his head.

"Not really sure. Maybe in some way, you did get through to me. Not enough to stop my destruction, but enough to keep me from wanting to hurt you." Dan shifted uncomfortably on the couch, not used to talking on this topic.

"It," Kwan started hesitantly, "might take me some time to really digest all of that."

"Take your time. I'm not going anywhere." Pushing, Dan learned, wasn't the best way to get anywhere in a relationship, even if he really did want to push the man for information. He glanced at Kwan, who was staring at him in an odd way. "What?" His brow furrowed as he frowned, uncertain about that look in the aqua green eyes watching him.

"You said you're full ghost." Kwan glanced away with a hint of embarrassment. "So that means what I'm seeing right now isn't how you truly look. So, um," a flush colored his cheek, "could I see what you really look like?"

Dan blinked at the request. "All right then." He stood up, walking around the room to close all the blinds, much like Danny did the week before. Then he placed himself before the other man. A wash of nervousness that he wasn't used to managed build up in him as he worried about how Kwan would react to seeing his true appearance. He let the human facade vanish, watching the man closely with his now red eyes. He placed his hands on his hips, dressed in his usual black and white jumpsuit with a cape.

"Wow," Kwan mumbled with wide, stunned eyes. "That, uh, wasn't what I was expecting."

"Thought I would look exactly like Danny?" Dan cocked an eyebrow at him, throwing on a cheeky smirk for good measure. Kwan didn't go screaming from the room, which he took to be a good sign.

"Maybe just a little," Kwan admitted with a wince. He stood up then hesitated as he lifted a hand. "Uh, can I?"

"Go for it." Dan shrugged, not quite sure for what exactly the man was asking permission.

Slowly, Kwan raised his hand then slipped his fingers through the fiery white hair on top of Dan's head. He blinked several times as his fingers played with the flames. "I was actually expecting that to burn me," he mumbled in embarrassment as he lowered his hand. He bit his lip as he held back a laugh. "Has it ever gone out?"

Dan stared dully at him. "You're imagining me bald right now, aren't you?"

"Maybe just a bit."

"Surprisingly no," Dan answered as he ran a hand through his flaming hair. "So this," he gestured to his appearance, "doesn't freak you out?"

"Well, it certainly is a shock, I'll admit. A very big shock. Maybe a little freaking out in here." Kwan tapped at his head. "But," he shrugged, "it's not so bad to look at." A smirk tugged at his mouth.

"Oh!" Dan grinned as he pointed a finger close to the man's face. "You totally think I'm sexy like this." The dark flush that Kwan desperately tried to fight back was answer enough for him. "Well, that's probably enough deep, depressing talk for one day. Want to go watch Lex learn how to use his powers?" He could see immediately the suggestion gained the man's interest.

"Would Danny be okay with that?" Hesitation flashed in Kwan's eyes.

"Now that you're in on the secret? I'm sure he'll be fine with it." Dan took hold of Kwan's hand, smirking at the gasp the man gave when he turned them both intangible and dropped them through the floor to enter the laboratory. Being able to be the real him with Kwan was a great relief. With random humans that he didn't care about, throwing out lies was easy because it didn't matter in the end. But if he wanted to be serious about pursuing a relationship with Kwan, Dan knew he needed to be one hundred percent the real Dan, even the jerky parts but especially the ghostly parts. It was best for Kwan to know right away what Dan really was, instead of learning it down the road when it might stir up trouble between them.


	33. Chapter 33

Paulina finished placing the last pin into the curls of ebony hair that was now decorated with white flowers. Stepping back, she held a hand to her chin, frowning as her eyes roamed over the woman before her. Something felt off with the image, and her emerald eyes narrowed half a fraction before it hit her. She darted into her bedroom and rifled through her jewelry box. When she returned to the living area of her apartment, she stepped behind the woman as she hooked the latch of the necklace about the woman's neck. Walking around to the front of the woman, she looked her over then nodded in satisfaction. The thin silver chain with a diamond studded butterfly pendant was the small addition that the whole image needed to be perfect.

"Sorry to make you sit through all that," Paulina said with a wince. "I can be a bit of a perfectionist when it comes to this sort of thing."

Desiree shook her head. "It's fine. I'm happy to help."

When the other woman smiled, Paulina felt some relief. She didn't want to annoy her new friend with her obsessive need to make everything perfect when it came to her fashion designs. For this dress in particular, she wanted to have everything exactly right so that when Jazz saw it, she would get the right feel of it. The dress wasn't anything big or fancy. There were no ruffles or ribbons or bows. It was a simple strapless number with a slightly flared short train in the back. Some floral lace decorated the bodice, and the skirt had some very nice, clean lines to it. She knew some people might consider it plain, but she rather liked the simplicity of it. The dress didn't have to be some huge, spectacular number to make the bride beautiful, and she believed Jazz would look gorgeous in this dress.

"You'd make such a beautiful bride!" Paulina grabbed her camera from where it sat on the coffee table so that she could take a few shots of the dress from all angles to send to Jazz.

Desiree reached up to push back a loose strand of hair behind an ear as she blushed. "I really don't think that'll ever happen."

After taking a picture, Paulina blinked over the top of the camera. "What do you mean? Any guy would be lucky to have you for a wife."

"Assuming I could ever meet one that isn't a jerk," Desiree reminded, and Paulina winced, knowing full well what it was like to have a constant string of bad boyfriends. Some people might consider beautiful women lucky because they could probably have their pick of men, but beauty sometimes came with the curse of drawing all the wrong types of men to them.

Paulina took hold of Desiree's hands. "If I can find a nice guy, I know you can too." She smiled, trying to give the other woman some reassurance. Internally though, she was still waiting for the shoe to drop and discover that Steven wasn't the nice guy that he appeared to be on the surface. It seemed silly to think like that, but after all her experiences with men, it was hard to ignore that nagging voice in her head.

"Sometimes," Desiree glanced away with pain in her brown eyes, "I can't help feeling that I'll always be alone."

"I want to say you'll never be alone as long as you have friends, but," Paulina frowned, squeezing the other woman's hand, "I know that's not what you mean. I know it can feel really lonely not having that special someone in your life, and sometimes it feels like finding that person is never going to happen. But you just have to keep looking. Maybe even give someone you never would have pictured yourself with in a million years a chance. Because you never know. That person might just be the one for you." She smiled encouragingly. "There's a great guy out there for you. I know it."

Desiree blinked at the firm belief in Paulina's voice before she smiled. "Thanks. I guess I just don't have a lot of confidence after all my bad experiences."

"They weren't all bad though. There was Dan, remember?" Paulina grinned at her as she stepped back to take a few more pictures.

"Right," Desiree agreed with a fond smile. "Now if only I could meet someone like him that actually loves me and I them in return." She sighed but tried to maintain a demure smile on her face for the pictures.

"It'll happen. For you, and for me." Paulina took one final shot from the back before she decided that was enough pictures for Jazz. "I really hope she likes the dress. Having someone wear a dress that I designed for a wedding?" She shook her head hardly believing anything like that could ever happen. "It would be like a dream."

"Jazz doesn't seem like the type that goes for something over the top," Desiree said as Paulina helped her to undo all the pins in her long hair. "She'll probably love this dress for the simplicity and subtle beauty of it. If it were me," she smiled as she ran her hand over the smooth, silky texture of the dress, "I would love to have a dress like this for my wedding."

"Well, if you do get married, I'd be happy to design a dress for you." Paulina took the flower hair pins and placed them back in their box for safe keeping, in case Jazz wished to use them. "I'm," she bit her lip as she turned back to Desiree, "kind of surprised you're not a model too. I only mean because with your looks, I'm sure you'd have a million offers to model for any number of different companies."

"I guess I never really had the opportunity." Desiree frowned, and the sadness flickering through her eyes made Paulina wonder if she said something wrong.

"Oh!" Paulina turned her head when she heard a knock on the door. "You can change in my room. Just leave the dress laid out on my bed." She walked toward the door of her apartment, throwing a glance over her shoulder as the other woman disappeared into the bedroom. When she opened the door, she smiled at the man standing on the other side. "Steven!"

"You didn't forget about our plans for today, did you?" Steven smiled, but there was a hint of a frown in his blue eyes, like he was afraid that she did forget.

"Oh! No, I remembered!" Paulina assured him. "We were just finishing up. I was just taking pictures of the finished dress." She accessed the pictures on the memory card of her camera then turned it around for him to look at them.

"It really is quite the lovely dress," Steven said as he looked through the pictures. "The woman that gets married in this dress is surely a very lucky woman. And the groom even luckier to have a bride that will look absolutely gorgeous in it."

Paulina flushed darkly at the compliments. "It's not really that good," she mumbled as she took the camera back from him. "I'm just happy that Jazz allowed me the opportunity to try."

"Oh. Did you have a date?" Desiree asked as she came out of the bedroom, now dressed in her regular clothes, which were casual today with a simple shirt and jeans. "Don't let me hold you up then. I'll just be on my way. I'll see you again later, Paulina."

"See you, Desiree." Paulina waved as the woman headed off down the hallway.

"You two seem awfully close," Steven said after watching Desiree disappear down the stairs. "Have you known each other long?"

"Not that long," Paulina answered as she grabbed her purse. "Only for a few weeks. She helped me out when I was having a bit of trouble with someone. Ready to go?" Smiling, she turned back to the man, ready to head out on their date. She was a little nervous because going to some place like an art museum wasn't exactly how she usually spent her dates, which generally didn't take place in the middle of the afternoon either.

"What sort of trouble?" Steven eyed her curiously as she locked up her apartment.

"Oh, just some guy stuff." Paulina wasn't sure she wanted to get into everything about her ex-boyfriends, especially this early in a new relationship. "Not really anything interesting. But we've been hanging out ever since." She shrugged. "Desiree is pretty nice, and we have fun chatting. It's been a while since I've a girl friend to chat with." Ever since Valerie sort of fell from the A list in freshmen year. They talked, sometimes, but it didn't feel the same after that. Star was never really someone Paulina felt comfortable confiding in about her problems. "Dash and Kwan don't exactly care to talk about the girly stuff with me."

"It's nice that you've got a girl friend to talk with then." Steven led the way down the stairs to the ground floor of the building. Once they were outside, Paulina followed him to his car and climbed into the passenger's seat. When Steven started up the engine, Paulina wasn't surprised to hear classical music playing from the radio.

"So you really only like classical music?" Paulina questioned with an amused smirk as she thought back to the other night when they bumped into Desiree and Ember after leaving the restaurant. She still couldn't believe that she actually bumped into Ember. In high school, she loved Ember's music, and she still listened to it, when she actually had the time to relax and listen to music.

"It's always been the most inspirational to me," Steven explained. "That other music all sounds like the singers are screaming at you, and I can never understand any of the words."

"Well, I can't deny that that's true for some music." Paulina winced when she thought back to some of the music she heard. The worst was when she was dating a singer that she thought sounded horrendous but pretended to like because he became such a drama queen whenever someone said even the slightest negative thing about his music. She was glad that relationship only lasted for three weeks. "But Ember's music is really good. Though," she tilted her head, "maybe I'll give listening to classical music a try next time I'm working on designs."

"I'd love to see what you come up with after that." Steven sent a smile her way, and Paulina lowered her gaze as a flush crept onto her cheek. Usually, the men she dated didn't care much about her interest in designing. They only looked at her as a model and a piece of eye candy. It was rather nice to date someone that actually wanted to know about her work with designing.

The ride to the museum was comfortable, despite her nervousness of going there. Paulina was fairly certain that she would make a fool of herself since she really didn't know all that much about art. After parking the car, they headed into the museum. Steven held out an arm for her, and Paulina took hold of it, allowing him to guide her through the museum. Walking around and looking at the amazing artwork wasn't so bad. She actually found quite a few them breath taking and felt like she could stand there staring at them for hours. But when Steven started talking about the artists and painting technique and color usage, Paulina started feeling very out of place there.

"What do you think?" Steven asked, breaking Paulina out of her daze of trying to follow along with everything that he was saying.

"I'm sorry." Paulina shook her head. "It's not that I'm not enjoying myself. But," she hunched her shoulders up, "I just don't know a lot about art."

Steven blinked then cringed. "I guess I have the tendency to ramble on when I get talking about art."

Paulina smiled kindly. "I can do the same with fashion. But I really did enjoy coming here. There are so many wonderful pieces. Thanks for bringing me here."

Steven scratched at the back of his head with an embarrassed blush. "There's, um, a nice little restaurant just a quick walk from here. We could go there. If you like."

"Sounds like a good plan. I'm getting pretty hungry," she admitted with a slight blush. She got caught up in doing up Desiree's hair and everything for the pictures that she may have skipped her lunch. After they left the museum, she felt a lot more relaxed. She had enjoyed walking around the museum, but now that they outside, she didn't have that tension that came from the fear of saying something stupid about a painting that would make Steven think she was a complete idiot.

"You seem a bit nervous," Steven noted as they walked down the street to the restaurant. "Shouldn't we be over first date jitters by now?"

"Well," Paulina threaded her fingers through ebony hair as she frowned, "I guess I'm just not used to dating a nice guy yet. The guys I've been with have all started out seeming nice, but they don't stay nice all that long after we start dating." She frowned, realizing that probably made her sound rather pathetic. "I just, you know, want a guy that's going to like me and care about me and not treat me like garbage. That's why I kind of wished that I could meet a nice guy like Danny."

"Danny?" Steven lifted his brow curiously at her.

"Uh, yeah, we knew each other from high school, though I really wasn't all that nice to him back then." Paulina glanced nervously at the man beside her. She couldn't shake the feeling that she kept sticking her foot in her mouth.

"That wouldn't happen to be Danny Fenton, would it?"

"Okay. Weirdness alert." Paulina's mouth pursed as her eyes narrowed. "How do you," she pointed at him, "know Danny?"

"Uh, well, you mentioned that you came from Amity Park earlier," Steven explained, glancing away as he talked, "and I remember reading that the writer Danny Fenton came from Amity Park too. And you're about the same age, so I thought maybe it was possible that you went to the same high school."

"Oh." Paulina blinked, guessing that made some sense, though she couldn't ignore that it still seemed kind of weird. "Are you a fan of his? Want me to see if he'll autograph a book?"

Steven smiled crookedly as he shook his head. "I've already got his autograph." There was something almost suspicious about that expression on his face.

"Slumming it with the commoners now?"

Paulina tried not to grind her teeth as she shot a glare at the speaker. "Are you forgetting about the restraining order, Tyler?" She glanced hesitantly at Steven. This wasn't how she wanted the topic of ex-boyfriends to come up, if it ever had to come up at all.

"I should have sued that meathead friend of yours for the assault," Tyler muttered with a scowl.

"You tried and failed on account that he had every right to throw you out of _his_ house," Paulina returned icily.

"Who is this?" Steven questioned quietly as he leaned toward her.

"Oh?" Tyler looked surprised. "You never told him about me? Your best boyfriend ever?"

"Try worst," Paulina growled, his fists clenching so tightly that her knuckles hurt.

"Paulina, babe," Tyler wore that winning grin that usually made the brain dead women melt, "we both know how high maintenance you are. Seriously, dude," he turned to Steven, shaking his head, "if you're not buying her gifts that cost up to thousands of dollars on a weekly basis, she's going to dump your ass."

"Excuse me?" Paulina demanded, and she had a hard time not completely exploding at him. " _You're_ the one that was throwing money around like it grew off trees. I make enough money on my own to buy myself whatever I want. I never _asked_ you for anything, and _you_ never gave me any gifts anyway."

"She's just trying to make herself look good," Tyler told Steven, pulling that act like Paulina wasn't even there. "But trust me. She'll string you along and drain your bank account dry then dump you like yesterday's news. If you're not making mucho dinero," he rubbed his thumb against his fingers, "you'll never be able to satisfy a greedy bitch like her."

"How dare-" Paulina started to shriek out in her rage until Steven acted. He grabbed hold of Tyler by the neck, shoving downward into a bow. His knee came up, hard and fast, to ram into the man's gut in a surprising blow that made Tyler drop to his knees with a gasp of pain.

"If that's how you speak about a lady, you don't deserve to make any of their acquaintances," Steven said coolly as he frowned down at the man. "Women should be treated with respect and decency. If I catch you anywhere near Paulina again, I won't hesitate to call the police to arrest you for the harassment. And I'm willing to bet the police would love to know about the restraining order you're currently in violation of." He turned back to Paulina, taking one her hands. "Now, shall we try to go enjoy our meal?"

"Uh," Paulina blinked several times as her mind tried to keep up with what just happened, "yeah, sure." She let Steven lead the way, her mind still spinning. "How did you - with the - and the - Just who are you?" She gaped at him.

"My father believed it would be wise for me to learn a bit of self defense," Steven explained with half a smile. "It comes in handy for teaching scum a lesson."

Paulina relaxed somewhat as she smiled at him. She certainly was learning quite a few things about this man, and so far, he seemed completely different from the usual men she dated.


	34. Chapter 34

He didn't get it. Lex was still pouting over the conversation he had with his father earlier. It didn't seem fair to him that his father could reveal their whole big ghost secret to his teacher, but he wasn't allowed to say anything about it to his best friend. Lex sank lower in his seat, arms folded as he glared at his desk. His father said it was a complicated adult thing that he was much too young to understand. Lex got that as an adult, Kwan was probably better at keeping secrets. The whole Xander blurting out the secret about Cujo didn't help his case that his friend could keep their family secret.

Lex rubbed at his nose as an itch came over him. All day he kept having that nagging feeling of an oncoming sneeze, and the pressure of it was starting to make his head hurt.

"Are you okay?" Xander asked, frowning as he tilted his head and leaned forward to get a good look at his friend's face.

"I'm fine," Lex grumbled and leaned his folded arms on his desk before he rested his head on them.

"You don't look," Xander frowned even more, "fine."

"Why's he all grumpy?" Denise asked after hearing their quiet conversation. She sat on the other side of Lex and leaned in close like Xander to join them.

"I'm not grumpy," Lex muttered, wishing that they would leave him alone about it. His hands curled into fists. It was moments like this that he really hated his father's ghost half. He hated having ghost powers because he had to keep them secret even from his best friend. His father's best friends got to know about his ghost half from the start. He knew he was still young, but he _did_ know the importance of keeping their ghost halves a secret. He knew there were ghost hunters out there, like his grandparents, that would love the opportunity to capture a ghost and study it. The fact that they were humans with ectoplasm mixed into their DNA would make them a rare find for ghost hunters. But it was so frustrating not to be able to share that side of him with his friend.

"Did we do something to make you mad?" Denise asked with a worried look in her eyes.

Xander leaned in closer to Lex and lowered his voice. "Are you upset about Cujo?"

Lex lifted his head, guilt stabbing at him when he saw that miserable look entering Xander's blue eyes. He shook his head. "No, I'm not mad about that." When it came out, he feared his father would be angry at him for telling Xander about Cujo. He was more worried about being punished than upset at his friend. Things slipped out sometimes, and he couldn't really blame Xander for wanting to stand up against a bully.

His gaze drifted across the room to where Jeremy sat at another grouping of desks. Beside him sat his old friend Vincent. Things seemed to have changed ever since the day their class got the bunny. He didn't catch what their teacher talked about with the bully, but after that day, he started noticing Jeremy acting differently. The boy still slipped up and acted like a jerk to the other students in their class, but he seemed to be making the effort to change, like when they were drawing and he and Billy both reached for the same crayon, Jeremy actually let the other boy have it rather than snatching it out of Billy's hands and saying something mean to him. Lex didn't know what happened in the bully's life, but if Jeremy was changing into a better person, maybe it wasn't such a bad thing that it happened.

"Then why are you mad?" Xander questioned, still with misery in his eyes.

"All right, class," their teacher announced before Lex could respond that he wasn't mad, at least not at his friend. "Um," Kwan scratched at the back of his head, seeming a bit lost at what he was going to say. When he thought about it, Lex realized that happened quite frequently ever since his father told his teacher about their ghost powers. The bell rang, and Kwan sighed, rubbing at his forehead. "Good work today, everyone. Remember to show your parents those papers I passed out about the end of the year play."

"What papers?" Jeremy questioned with only half a tinge of rudeness in his voice.

Kwan blinked at the boy before his aqua green eyes lowered to his desk. "Right. I meant to pass those out." He picked up the stack of papers. "Grab one on your way out." He walked over to stand by the doorway, holding out the papers. The students gathered up their things before filing out the door, grabbing one of the blue colored pieces of paper from their teacher as they left.

Denise hesitated after pulling her backpack on, tugging her long red hair free. "So, um," she blushed lightly, "my mom said it would be okay if you two came over to hang out this weekend. If - If you wanted to, of course. My dad just finished building a tree house over the last weekend."

"It sounds like fun!" Xander grinned brightly, which gained a shy smile from the girl.

"Then you can ask your parents if it's all right. I'll see you tomorrow." Denise waved to them before hurrying up to their teacher to grab one of the papers and darting out of the classroom.

"Maybe Uncle Kwan will let us take the bunny out of the cage today," Xander said with an excited smile as he turned to his friend.

"Why don't you go see if Bouncer needs more food? I'd like to talk with Lex for a moment," their teacher said when he came to stand before their cluster of desks. Xander frowned, glancing at his friend, but he nodded and skipped over to where the bunny's cage was. "You seemed a bit distracted today, Lex." Kwan set the papers down on the desk as he took a seat next to the boy. He looked kind of funny sitting in a child's chair. "I just wanted to make sure everything was all right with you."

"I'm fine." Lex squinted his eyes, trying to hold back a sneeze, yet again. Failing, he sneezed hard and winced. "You were way more spacey than me."

His teacher frowned when Lex rubbed at his nose with a hand. Getting up, he walked over to his desk and grabbed the box of tissues. "Okay. You're probably right on that," he agreed as he sat again and offered a tissue to Lex. "I've just had a lot on my mind with this whole," he hesitantly glanced at Xander, who was busily trying to pet Bouncer through the bars of the cage, "ghost thing. It's not the easiest thing in the world to learn."

"Why?" Lex blew his nose in the tissue. "What does it really change?"

"It's complicated." Kwan winced.

"That's what adults always say," Lex grumbled, hunching his shoulders. His gaze strayed toward Xander, and his teacher followed the look.

"Oh." Kwan nodded, like he suddenly understood everything. "You want to tell Xander."

Lex pouted as he lifted his gaze to the man. "Dad has a lot of people that know about him. And I like all of them and all, but-" He lowered his gaze to the tissue in his hands.

"But you want your own friend that shares in your secret."

Frowning, Lex thought it was really annoying when adults started talking like they knew everything, even if they were right. "Why do you get to know but not Xander?"

"Maybe one day you'll get to tell Xander everything." Kwan placed a hand on his shoulder, trying to comfort the boy. "This is a very important secret, and you're doing an amazing job keeping quiet about it. But it might be too soon to start telling close friends."

"That's what Dad said."

"Sorry I'm late," his father said, walking into the class room at that moment. "My editor called to yell at me about my new novel." He put on a smile as he turned to her son. "Ready to go, big guy?"

Lex grabbed another tissue from the box just in time to sneeze into it. After blowing his nose, he slung his backpack over a shoulder. His father frowned down at him as Lex came to stand in front of him. Crouching down, he placed a hand to his son's forehead. "Dad!" Lex whined as he tried to dodge the hand.

"Can we go to Lex's house today?" Xander asked, putting on his best pleading puppy dog look.

"I think not today," his father said as he stood, folding his arms. "I think Lex needs to rest today."

"Oh, before I forget," Kwan said and picked up one of the blue papers from the stack. "Every year, each class kind of does an end of the year play that all the students participate in." He handed the paper to Lex's father. "It's usually nothing too big. Just short little skits. This year, we're doing 'Old MacDonald Had a Farm.' One student will dress up as Old MacDonald, and the other students will be dressed up as different farm animals."

"That sounds pretty fun," his father said, ruffling Lex's blond locks as he grinned down at his son. "Doesn't that sound fun?"

Lex shrugged and mumbled, "I guess."

His father's grin fell into a frown. "I should probably get you home now." He turned to Xander, who was pouting at him. "You can come by another day to play. I'll be sure to have a new batch of ice cream for when you come over. Do you have a favorite flavor?"

Xander's face immediately lit up at the mention of ice cream. Then he pressed a finger to his chin as his mouth pursed to one side in thought. "Strawberry!"

Lex's father chuckled at the bright grin on the raven haired boy's face. "I'll be sure to make strawberry ice cream just for you." Lex made a face at the mention of strawberry ice cream, which got another laugh from his father. "Lex prefers chocolate." He gave his son a little nudge. "Say goodbye to your friend."

Lex stepped over to the other boy. "See you tomorrow." He hugged his friend as Xander said his goodbye as well.

"See you later, Kwan." His father took hold of Lex's hand as he waved to the teacher. "What should I make us for dinner tonight?" he asked as they left the classroom.

Lex shrugged. "Anything is fine."

His father blinked down at him, his brow furrowing slightly. "Lex, are you still mad about our conversation earlier?" He sighed when Lex refused to answer. "I know how important it is to have a friend in the know about this. I never would have survived without my friends right alongside me, helping me out. But if you're going to tell someone, I need to know that they can keep this a secret. I know Xander is a nice boy, and I really like him. But if he let something about Cujo slip out that easily, how do I know something won't happen that makes him tell about us? I'm just trying to protect our family." He reached down and ran his hand through Lex's blond hair. "Maybe in a few years."

"You told my teacher." Lex pouted up at his father as they walked out of the school building.

"But I knew Kwan back in high school." His father frowned, scratching behind one ear. "And Uncle Dan really likes him, but you know Uncle Dan. There's a lot about him that can't be explained without first revealing the truth about me." He sighed again and crouched down in front of Lex when they reached the car. "I promise this no telling thing isn't a permanent thing. I know you really like Xander, and you never connected with any of your classmates back in Amity Park as well as you have with him. I'm really happy you have a friend like Xander. I'm just-" He hesitated then sighed. "I'm just scared of our secret getting out."

Lex lowered his blue eyed gaze, knowing his father didn't often admit to being scared, of anything. "I know. I just don't want to lie to him."

His father pulled him into a tight hug. "I know you don't." Standing up, he unlocked the doors and helped Lex into the car. "You won't always have to be alone in this secret." A sad smile flickered across his face before he closed the door then climbed into the driver's seat.

Lex hoped his father was right about that last part. He had plenty of great people around him, and they were all like a big extended family to him. But it wasn't the same as having a friend to share the secret. And it wasn't simply about the secret. There was a lot that he couldn't actually say to his friend because of having to keep his ghost powers secret. Lex sighed as he leaned his head against the car door, and his eyes slipped half shut. The air around him started to feel too warm, which made his head spin a little. He didn't even notice when they finally arrived home.

"Are you sure you don't care what I make for dinner?" his father asked as he unbuckled the seatbelt. "I think I have some steaks that I could thaw out. You liked steaks, right?"

Lex shook his head as he slid out of the car. "I'm not really hungry."

His father frowned and touched a hand to his son's face, feeling forehead and cheeks. "Hm, you feel a bit warm." Concern showed in his blue eyes. "I'll make you some chicken noodle soup. Try to eat as much of it as you can, okay?"

Lex nodded and followed his father toward the front door of their house. All he really felt like doing at that moment was crawling into bed and sleeping.


	35. Chapter 35

"And then, um," Xander said, tapping his chin as his blue eyes gazed upward at the ceiling as he tried to remember what he was saying. "Oh! And then Jeremy gave me half of his cookie." He grinned brightly at his father.

"Really?" Dash asked, blinking in disbelief. Jeremy, biggest bully of his son's class and always picking on Xander, gave him part of his cookie during lunch? But Xander nodded firmly in response before he continued scribbling on the paper in front of him, copying the text above the line where he was writing. Dash almost wanted to reach out and feel his son's head to see if it was warm with a fever. "Did that really happen?" He turned to Kwan, who was sitting next to him on the couch. When he didn't get a response out of his friend, Dash frowned then poked at the man in his arm. "Hello? Earth to Kwan!"

"Huh? What?" Kwan jumped when he was poked, snapping his head around to blink at the blond man beside him. "Er, did you say something?"

"Gee, Kwan, space out much?" Dash's brow furrowed as he watched his friend. "You've been doing that a lot lately. You burnt the bread for dinner. That's not like you. What's up?"

Kwan shook his head. "It's nothing. I've just," he sighed, raking a hand through short raven locks, "had a lot on my mind lately."

"He forgot to pass out the papers today in class," Xander put in helpfully.

Dash frowned even more when Kwan winced like he hadn't wanted his friend to know about that. "Dude, spill. I know there's something eating at that brain of yours, so you might as well tell me."

"It's nothing. I've just been thinking a lot about something Dan told me," Kwan answered, clearly trying to dodge the question and get away without really answering it.

"And what did he tell you?" Dash laid that glare on his friend that said he wouldn't let it slide until he got a real answer. Not knowing much about Dan other than that he was Fenton's cousin, and even that was starting to sound rather fishy, Dash didn't quite trust the man. He could see his friend was developing feelings for the man, which was rather obvious in the way Kwan kept thinking about him, but if Dan did anything to hurt Kwan, Dash would make sure he paid for anything he did.

"Nothing all that important." Kwan shrugged. "He just talked a bit about his past. It wasn't exactly a nice past. And I'm just trying to adjust to everything he told me." He rubbed at his forehead with a tired look in his aqua green eyes. "Without breaking down into a massive freak out."

"That's not exactly helping things." Dash narrowed his dark blue eyes. What kind of past did Dan have that would freak out Kwan? "Just what exactly happened in his past?" He wanted to believe that Fenton was smart enough to keep bad influences away from his son, but family could also be biased in their opinions about those related to them. Depending on what happened with Dan, Dash might not be so supportive of his friend falling for the man, and even less willing to let his son be around the man, Fenton's cousin or not.

"I can't really," Kwan mumbled, tugging at his ear and refusing to meet with his friend's gaze.

Dash gritted his teeth, wondering what exactly Kwan was hiding from him. Before he could start demanding answers, the doorbell rang. Dash turned his head toward the front hall as his brow creased in confusion, wondering who would be at the door this late at night. It was almost time that he would be getting Xander ready for bed. When the pounding on the door started, Dash got up from the couch and walked to the front door. Upon opening it, he blinked in surprise to find Fenton on the other side of it.

"What are you doing here?" Dash questioned, growing concerned as he stared at the panic in Fenton's blue eyes.

"It's Lex," Fenton said urgently, holding his son in his arms. Lex had his head buried against his father's neck. "He was feeling a little warm when I picked him up after school, but I thought maybe it was just a little cold. I was going to wait until tomorrow. See if he felt better before bringing him in. But then he started complaining about his throat hurting."

"Calm down, Fenton." Dash stepped aside to allow the man to enter his house. "Bring him in here, and I'll look him over." He led the way into the front room.

"What's going on?" Kwan asked, worriedly looking at Fenton and his son.

"Are we having a sleepover?" Xander's eyes lit up excitedly at the prospect of a sleepover on a school night.

"No, Lex isn't feeling too good," Dash explained as Fenton sat his son down on the couch. Lex complained, not wanting to let go of his father, but he eventually released his hold on the man. "What are the symptoms he's shown?" Dash glanced at Fenton before he went into doctor mode and started checking on his patient.

"Um, well," Fenton said, rubbing at his forehead. Dash frowned when he stared at the man, who looked more exhausted than usual with the dark bags under his eyes and flush on his cheeks. "He was sneezing a little. I tried to give him some," he rubbed at his nose with a mildly irritated look, "chicken noodle soup, but he wouldn't eat more than a bite. Even just getting him to drink some of the broth was no good. Then about half an hour ago, he started complaining about his throat, and I started getting worried, so I thought I should bring him over for you to check on him."

Dash had Lex open his mouth and tilted the boy's head back to see inside better. He frowned at what he saw. "There's definitely some inflammation. It could be a simple sore throat. I don't have the right equipment here to really diagnose anything beyond that." He touched the boy's throat, feeling some swelling. Then he pressed an ear to the boy's chest having him take some deep breaths as he listened as best he could to Lex's lungs. "He'll need to stay home from school for a couple of days until it clears up. Did you take his temperature at all?"

Fenton nodded. "Yeah, he was running a bit of a fever."

"I can run out and get whatever you need," Kwan offered, already walking toward the front hall to grab his coat and keys.

Dash headed into the kitchen and threw open the door of the medicine cabinet. After rummaging through everything he had, he headed for the front hall with a frown. "I'm out of ibuprofen." He caught his friend's arm before he could leave the house. "Our conversation," he said quietly to Kwan as they stood at the front door, "isn't over." He gave his friend a meaningful look before Kwan ducked out of the house.

"I know I probably look silly coming over here like that in a panic," Fenton mumbled, rubbing awkwardly at the back of his neck as he glanced into the front room. Lex was curled up in a ball on the couch, and Xander had climbed up to join him and rubbed at his friend's back.

Dash shook his head. "I've seen parents freak out over something as small as a dot of makeup on their child's face." He reached over and patted the man on the shoulder. "You had good reason to be concerned."

"I guess." But worry still shone in Fenton's blue eyes. "It's the first time he's gotten a sore throat like this."

Dash squeezed his hand around the man's shoulder. "I don't think you're silly. I think you're just being a good parent that's concerned about his child's health. I'd have thought you were being an idiot if you ignored it."

Fenton glanced his way, never letting that worry leave his eyes. "Um, thanks." His nose scrunched up before he turned his head and sneezed into his arm.

Dash shivered as a chill ran down his spine. His mouth thinned as he stared at Fenton, swearing the temperature of the front hall dropped a few degrees when the man sneezed. He pressed a hand to Fenton's face and frowned even more when he felt how warm it was. "I think you might have the same thing."

"Nonsense." Fenton swatted at his hand. "I feel fine. We should focus on Lex." He started to walk into the front room, but Dash grabbed his arm to hold him back.

"You're not looking like you feel fine. Has your throat been hurting too?"

Fenton frowned, glancing away. "Well, it's been a little scratchy for a while, but it's nothing."

Dash took hold of the man's head, tilting it up somewhat. "Open up and let me see." He glared at the man until Fenton rolled his eyes with a sigh. When Fenton opened his mouth, Dash squinted inside, adjusting the position of the man's head to see all around his mouth. "You look like you have some inflammation too. You should take some of the ibuprofen too, and I'll check you out tomorrow too when we get to my office."

"It's not that bad. I didn't even really notice anything until you started talking." Fenton started into the front room to join his son on the couch.

Frowning, Dash followed after him. "Trust me. I get wanting to watch over your son and make sure he's okay. If it were Xander, I'd be doing everything to make sure he was all right too. But you can't ignore your own health."

"It's fine," Fenton said firmly. "As soon as Kwan comes back with the ibuprofen, I'll head home."

Dash folded his arms as he watched Lex crawl into his father's lap and snuggle against his chest. Xander scooted over and leaned against the man. Dash would bet every cent he had that Fenton would ignore his own symptoms and not take the ibuprofen too. Grinding his teeth, he couldn't shake the feeling that Fenton was sometimes too self sacrificing for his own good.

"Will Lex be better by the weekend?" Xander asked, frowning as he tilted his head back to stare up at his friend's father.

"I don't know," Fenton answered, threading his fingers through his son's hair as Lex's eyes slipped half shut like he was seconds away from simply falling asleep. "We'll have to see if what he has is anything serious or not. If it turns out to be a simple sore throat, he could be better by the weekend." He breathed in deeply through his nose, but a second later he had to turn his head to sneeze again. Xander hugged his arms around his body with a small shudder.

Dash narrowed his eyes, positive this time that there was a dip in the temperature occurring at the same time as the sneeze. "That's it," he said, drawing all eyes onto himself. "You're both staying here." He ignored the cheer from his son, who no doubt was excited at the idea of his friend staying over the night.

"Dash, seriously," Fenton shook his head with a slight nervous hint in his eyes, "that's not necessary. And I need to get to work on my novel."

"You're not going to get much done while you're sick." Dash gave him a stern glare that Fenton stubbornly returned. "Look. You want to take care of your son, and I want-" He rubbed at his forehead, realizing how bad that next phrase would have sounded to the other man. _I want to take care of you? What is wrong with me?_ He sighed as he turned his gaze back onto Fenton, who was giving him a weird look. "And as a doctor, I want to make sure _both_ of you are okay. So you're going to stay here so I can make sure that you both rest and take the ibuprofen. And in the morning, we'll go to my office for a full diagnosis."

"That's not-" Fenton started to argue, shaking his head, but he shrank down under Dash's unyielding glare. "Okay. We'll stay. But I'd like to point out the weirdness of this all."

Dash nodded. "I've realized the weirdness too." Back in high school, he never would have imagined caring enough about Fenton to be concerned about his health. But ever since they bumped into each other again and started hanging out because of their sons, Dash realized he actually sort of liked the man. He scratched at his head, still baffled by how easily they could fall into a friendship when he used to bully Fenton. "But ignoring that, I'm still a doctor and taking care of people is my job."

"Right, so, um..." Fenton trailed off, looking away awkwardly.

Lex sneezed into his chest, and Dash's eyebrows shot upward, certain that the boy's hair suddenly turned a reddish purple color for a brief moment before reverting back to its usual blond. The doctor rubbed at his eyes, wondering if perhaps he was seeing things, though he was fairly certain _he_ wasn't getting sick.

"It hurts, Dad," Lex complained, his hands curling around his father's shirt as he pouted up at his father. Goopy snot was dribbling from his nose, and he looked absolutely miserable while suffering through the symptoms of being sick.

"I know." Fenton sighed, placing a hand on his son's head as he glanced around the room.

Dash's brow drew together, wondering how the man missed that whole oddity with his son's hair. Maybe he really was just seeing things after all. He walked over to where he kept the tissues and brought the box over to the couch.

"Thanks." Fenton grabbed one of the tissues then used it to wipe the snot from his son's face. He winced as he glanced up at Dash. "I think I could use a cup of water. Or maybe tea." He rubbed at his throat, and despite any earlier protests, his throat was obviously starting to feel worse.

"I'll put the water on. We should get the boys ready for bed. When Kwan gets back, we can give Lex the ibuprofen then immediately put them to bed." Dash walked into the kitchen to put a pot of water on the stove to boil, and he heard Xander whine, not wanting to go to bed. When he returned to the front room, Dash placed his hands on his hips as he gave his son a stern stare. "Xan, Lex isn't here to play. And you have to go to school tomorrow so you can't stay up late. Now come on." He clapped his hands. "Time to get ready for bed."

Xander pouted but slid off the couch to head up the stairs. Fenton stood up with his son in his arms while Lex held on tightly to his father. Dash couldn't really blame the boy since Xander usually got clingy whenever he was sick too. They entered the bathroom and helped the boys with brushing their teeth. Dash kept a few unopened toothbrushes in the cabinet and offered Lex his choice of toothbrushes to use. The boy picked a bright green one before sitting down on the floor of the bathroom to brush his teeth. Tears were streaming down his face when Fenton picked him up to spit into the sink and wash out his mouth. His throat was clearly bothering him and causing him a lot of pain. Dash couldn't help feeling sorry for the boy.

"I think Lex should stay in the guest room with me," Fenton suggested after they put the boys in pajamas, Lex borrowing some of Xander's clothes. "I don't want Xander getting sick."

Dash nodded, realizing that was the best plan of action, even if his son was bound to pout over it. "That should be Kwan," he said when he heard the front door open. He led the way downstairs to find Kwan in the front hall with a bag in hand from the grocery store.

"Thanks, Kwan," Dash said then blinked over at Fenton, who had spoken the same thing at the same time.

"No problem." Kwan offered a smile. "I just hope Lex feels better soon. I'm going to miss having you in class."

Lex hugged an arm about his father's leg. "I'll try to be better soon," he said quietly, his voice sounding scratchy.

"I should probably get going now anyway." Kwan shifted his weight awkwardly on his feet, and Dash suspected his friend wasn't making the quick departure simply because two members in the house were sick. Kwan was trying to avoid answering Dash's questions about Dan's mysterious bad past. After a short wave goodbye, Kwan slipped back out the front door.

"Ibuprofen, then to bed with you both," Dash said and wasn't surprised when his son whined. Lex, on the other hand, looked like he was too miserable to care about staying up much longer. They headed into the kitchen, and Dash left giving Lex the ibuprofen to his father. Instead, he fixed a cup of tea for his house guest. "Do you like any milk or sugar in it?" He glanced over his shoulder at the man, who was struggling with getting his son to take the medicine.

"Uh, just a little sugar is fine," Fenton answered then sighed. "Lex, it's going to help make you feel better. Your throat really hurts, right? This will help lessen that pain."

After stirring in some sugar, Dash carried the mug of tea over to Fenton. Lex reluctantly agreed to take the medicine, making a face after taking it. Fenton accepted the tea, and after a sip, he looked much relieved as the hot liquid burned down his throat, soothing some of the soreness.

"All right. Bed time story time," Dash said as he ushered the two boys toward the stairs. "What should I read tonight? _Eleanor and the Long Parade_?"

"No," Xander whined. " _Travels around the Moon_!"

Dash chuckled as they entered his son's bedroom. "Okay." He grabbed the book from the shelf as Xander crawled into his bed then pulled up to the covers.

Fenton took a seat, and Lex climbed into his lap, settling there to listen to the story. Dash opened the book and began to read the story about a young boy who built a rocket ship to fly through space and made a trip to the moon. It was cute and playful with some wild imaginings, but Xander loved it because it talked about space and the stars. When Dash finished, Xander already fell asleep, and Lex was practically passed out in his father's lap. Fenton had finished his tea, looking ready to sleep too.

"I guess it's time for all of us to get to bed," Dash whispered as he stood and placed the book back on the shelf.

"Sorry you have to go through all this trouble," Fenton whispered back, lifting his son up as he stood.

"It's no trouble." Dash shook his head, flipping off the lights as they left the bedroom. He really didn't understand it, but he was certain that he wouldn't be able to sleep all that well knowing that both Fenton and his son were sick. "Um," he started to say, his brow creasing as they reached the guest bedroom, but his words failed him when Fenton turned a curious look onto him. He wanted to ask about that weird moment of seeing Lex's hair change colors, maybe even ask about the whole temperature drop thing, but then he realized how absolutely insane that sounded. What if it _was_ all in his head? He didn't want to come off sounding crazy. "Good night," he finished lamely.

Fenton blinked a few times. "Good night, Dash."

"Uh, right." Dash nodded awkwardly then turned to head to his own bedroom. Seriously, what was going on with him? Why was he being weird just then? He raked a hand through his hair. Sleep. Maybe that was all he needed: a good night's sleep. He kicked off his shoes and got out of his clothes, dumping them into his laundry basket. Then he climbed into bed, staring up at the ceiling as he reviewed the events of the day from Kwan's weird spacing out to Fenton showing up sick with his son. Rubbing the heels of his palms into his eyes, he tried to clear his mind enough to allow him to fall asleep.


	36. Chapter 36

Desiree entered the laboratory in the basement of Danny's house, but she came to an immediate halt when she found someone else already there. "Vlad?" she questioned as she floated over to the half ghost, wondering what he was doing at Danny's house, though it wasn't that unusual, not since he was defeated and began to change his ways.

Vlad was actually a halfway decent man after he put aside all his scheming, like many of the ghosts that came to befriend Danny, and he seemed to care a great deal about Danny and his son. She could see some of Dan in him when she thought about Vlad's relationship with the other two half ghosts. Vlad wanted to remain as a part of their lives, and for that, he tried to be a better man. Giving it some serious thought, she realized Danny seemed to have that effect on people, or ghosts. Once he got them to open up enough to talk with him, they began to change and develop into better people.

"What are you doing here?" Desiree frowned at him when she noticed the troubled expression creasing his face. The man didn't often wear that kind of expression unless something was wrong, and that tended to mean something bad. She worried her lower lip, hoping nothing serious had happened to Danny. The poor man already had enough grief in his life.

Vlad blinked his dark blue eyes as he turned his head to stared at her, like he only just realized her presence. "That was Daniel's friend." His mouth thinned, the gears turning in his head. "Dash Baxter, I believe his name was." He held a cordless phone in his hand, which squeezed tightly around the object. "It seems that Daniel and Lex have caught a bit of a sore throat, and Dash has decided to keep them at his home to care for them."

"Well, that doesn't sound too bad." Desiree frowned as she watched the half ghost, feeling a coil of doubt twisting inside her. Vlad didn't look all that convinced that everything was all right. "I don't know a lot about human illnesses, but a sore throat isn't anything serious. Right?"

"No," Vlad agreed. "But it might not be as simple as that. Being half ghost, of course, doesn't make us immune to human disease. But it does make us susceptible to ghost illnesses as well as human ones. If Daniel and Lex are sick with some sort of ghost bug, imagine what sort of slip ups that could cause. And in front of someone who doesn't already know about Daniel?" He shook his head, clearly worried about Daniel's safety.

"What are you going to do?" Desiree's brow furrowed with some concern. When he got scheming, Vlad could become rather dangerous.

"I may not be a doctor, but I do know a bit about ghost illnesses. I," Vlad's mouth pursed, "have unfortunately experienced some of them myself. I would know much better how to handle them than a human doctor. I should be the one to look after them, if for no other reason than to make sure Daniel's secret isn't discovered."

"Not very trusting of this human, are you?" Desiree allowed half a smirk slip onto her face as she placed her hands on her hips. The blue wisp of her tail flicked back and forth while she floated in the air.

Vlad cocked an eyebrow at her. "And you trust him? A man?"

Frowning, Desiree folded her arms as she turned her head away. "I hardly know him enough to develop any sense of trust in him."

"And I don't know him at all." Vlad turned and led the way up the stairs into the kitchen where he placed the cordless phone back on its holder. "So you'll have to forgive me if I feel more than a little concerned about him possibly discovering anything about half ghosts existing. Perhaps he's a trustworthy person who will keep the secret until his dying breath, but I don't know him well enough to have such faith in him."

Desiree sighed as she switched to her human appearance before leaving the laboratory. Trust could be a difficult thing, especially for someone like her who had her trust in people, specifically men, greatly shaken throughout her life. "So you plan on heading over to this man's house and dragging Danny back here?"

"Not necessarily," Vlad answered smoothly. "If Daniel and Lex merely have a sore throat, then leaving them with this man might not be a bad idea. But if their illness is ghost related, I'll have to convince Daniel that it's in his best interest to return home and let me take care of them, which I imagine won't be too difficult if he's hoping to keep Dash from learning the truth about him and his son."

Desiree nodded as she pulled her hair up, tying most of it back into a high ponytail. A lock remained loose, falling down to obscure one of her brown eyes. "I suppose that makes the most sense. Danny certainly wouldn't want to risk his secret."

"And I should head over there now before any slip ups can occur." Vlad glanced her way then walked over to her. Desiree blinked in surprise when he reached out to her. "That's a rather lovely pendant." He picked up the diamond studded butterfly pendant, holding closer to him for a better look.

Desiree dropped her confused gaze to the pendant. "Oh no!" She brought a hand to her mouth in startling horror. "I forgot to take that off the other day. It belongs to a friend."

"Well," Vlad released his hold on the pendant, letting it fall back to rest upon the ghost's chest, "you should be sure to return it and explain it was an accident. Trust me when I say innocent accidents can destroy a friendship if you're not careful." He patted her on the shoulder before he headed toward the front door.

Desiree stared after him. The Ghost Zone could sometimes act like a giant center for gossip, so it wasn't all that surprising to hear word about other ghosts, even half ghosts. It was how Danny became such a big name there as news of his deeds fighting ghosts spread like wildfire. Desiree didn't know every little detail about what happened with Vlad, but she did hear about his plots against Danny's family, scheming to kill Danny's father and win over his mother. He had used multiple ghosts on many occasions in his plans, and none of the ghosts thought it necessary to remain quiet to other residents of the Ghost Zone. Vlad was friends with Danny's parents before something happened that broke that friendship.

Desiree reached up to close her hand around the butterfly pendant. Vlad was actually trying to help her by offering her that small warning. She certainly didn't want to lose Paulina as a friend over something as silly as her forgetting to take off the necklace before she left the woman's apartment. It slipped her mind that she was even wearing it until Vlad noticed it.

Leaving the house, Desiree hurriedly flew toward Paulina's apartment. Maybe she could simply sneak into the apartment and put the necklace back before the woman even realized that it was missing. When she reached the building, she turned intangible and phased through the wall into the bedroom. It was empty, thankfully, and she floated over to the dresser where a jewelry box sat. She reached behind her and undid the hook on the necklace then placed it into the box.

"Oh, sure. The bathroom's right through my bedroom," Paulina said, and Desiree froze when she heard the woman's voice. It was still early in the morning, but Paulina's modeling schedule sometimes allowed her some free mornings.

"I'll just be a minute," Steven said, stepping into the bedroom.

Desiree was never more thankful for the ability to turn invisible than right at that moment as she watched the man close the door. What was Steven even doing over at Paulina's apartment this early in the morning? Perhaps that really wasn't any of her business, if Paulina didn't want to tell her about the early morning date. Was it even a date? And there was that annoying wash of jealousy. She was happy for her friend meeting a nice guy that was treating her well, but Desiree wished for that too.

"All right," Steven said in a quiet voice as his blue eyes darted around the room. "I know you're in here, ghost, so you might as well drop the invisibility act and come with me quietly. I don't want to cause any trouble for the woman that lives here. Definitely don't want to trash her place. So let's do this the easy way." He adjusted something on his wrist that looked like a watch, and a small ecto ray gun sprung from it.

Desiree's eyes widened at the sight of it, recognizing it immediately as a weapon designed by the Guys in White. "I knew it!" she exclaimed, though it was actually Ember that was the one suspicious of him. Then she gasped, slapping a hand over her mouth when she realized her error.

"Aha!" Steven directed his weapon at her and fired it.

Desiree ducked out of the way to avoid being hit. The blast struck the wall, leaving a blackened scorched mark on the white paint. She should have listened to Ember when the singer was suspicious of the man! But she wanted to believe Paulina finally found a decent man. "You!" she shouted, zooming forward to grab hold of the man and ram him into the wall near the door. "Leave Paulina alone." Her voice held a dangerous note to it as her red eyes glared darkly at the man. "If you hurt her-"

"What's going on?" Paulina questioned as she threw the door open. When she looked at them, Desiree holding the man pinned to the wall and Steven with his ecto ray gun pointed at the ghost, Paulina's mouth dropped open, and she blinked, stunned by the sight that greeted her.

"I can explain," Steven said with a wincing smile.

Her mouth snapped shut and pursed in a tight line as Paulina folded her arms and stared at them with annoyance in her emerald eyes. "Oh, you will both be explaining things. And by things, I mean _everything_." Her gaze darkened unhappily, and Desiree had a sinking feeling about this whole encounter. "First off, let him go," Paulina ordered, snapping her glare onto the ghost until she released her hold on the man. "And you," she pointed a finger at Steven, who actually paled a few shades, "put that damn weapon away before you hurt someone."

"There's really a perfectly good explanation for all of this." Steven gulped as he stowed away the weapon, returning it to its innocent looking watch appearance.

"I certainly hope there is." Paulina walked over to her bed and sat down at the foot of it with her arms folded and legs crossed. She glanced between them, determining which of them she wished to question first. "Are you even a banker?"

"Uh, no," Steven answered, bowing his head as he rubbed at his neck. "That was just a cover because I'm not supposed to reveal my real occupation as an agent for the Guys in White. But that was the only thing I lied about." His head snapped up with an earnest look in his blue eyes. "My name really is Steven Beland. I love classical music. I do paint on the weekends. And I love visiting art museums. The only thing I've ever lied to you about was my job."

"It was still a lie." Paulina narrowed her eyes, very much unhappy with that fact. When Paulina turned to her next, Desiree felt cold inside with worry. "Are you about to tell me the same thing? You only lied about the fact that you're not even alive?"

"I didn't mean to lie." Desiree hugged her arms around her body as she lowered her gaze to the floor. "The whole reason I appeared human was because Dan and I were looking for a birthday gift for Lex, and well, you can imagine how that would have gone if I went around as a ghost. So any time I need to do something in the human world, I put on this appearance." She shifted into her human disguise, causing the man near her to jerk back a step in surprise.

"And after that?" Paulina demanded. Her expression was furious as her hands gripped her arms tightly. She wasn't outwardly expressing any sort of freak out by discovering the woman she befriended was a ghost, but Desiree could imagine the chaos of thoughts running rampant in the woman's mind. "Did you ever consider just telling me the truth about who - _what_ you are? Or did you hope you could get away with never telling me anything about the _real_ you?"

"I-" Desiree winced because she didn't, in fact, plan on ever telling Paulina the truth. "I should have. I realize that now." Looking into the fury of Paulina's eyes was all Desiree needed to know what a mistake it was to stay silent about whom she really was. "But I was scared. I really liked hanging out with you that first night, and I've enjoyed talking with you and getting to know you. I have other friends who are ghosts, but it's not the same. Ember has a guy in her life."

"Wait." Paulina held up a hand. "Ember is a ghost? No, wait! Ember has a _boyfriend_?" She gaped, absolutely flabbergasted by that news.

Desiree tried not to smile at that reaction. "Yes to both. Even more surprising is that they have a child together."

"What?" Paulina shouted, eyes growing wide. "No." She shook her head. "That can wait. I'm definitely asking more about that later though." She pointed at Desiree with a determined look in her eyes. "Go on with what you were saying."

Desiree had to take a moment to gather up her thoughts again. "Right. Ember has a guy in her life, and even though I really enjoy being her friend, she just doesn't understand what it's like for me. I know she's had her own share of bad luck with men, but now she has someone. And I see them being this happy little family, and I get jealous, wanting that for myself."

"How does a ghost have a baby?" Steven asked, brow pinching as he stared warily at the ghost beside him.

"Like I'm going to tell one of the Goons in White," Desiree replied with a snort. "The point I was trying to make is that I liked being able to talk with you about that kind of stuff. It's weird with Ember, but you get where I'm coming from with the whole wanting a guy that likes me for me and is going to treat me nicely. And I was scared if you knew I was ghost, you would be scared of me and wouldn't want anything more to do with me."

"Finding out you're a ghost is," Paulina laughed a bit forcibly, "a little freaky. But hello!" She waved a hand. "I'm from Amity Park. That's, like, ghost capital of the world. If this was back when I was fourteen, I'd have gone running out of the apartment screaming for help. But it's not. I've grown up a lot since then. I know there are evil ghosts in the world, but I also know there are good ones, like Phantom. And I've really enjoyed our time together too. I'm more angry at you for lying about all of this than I'm scared over you being a ghost. I just - I hate that neither of you were being honest with me. I'm feel very hurt and betrayed right now."

"I'm really sorry!" Desiree glanced at Steven, who stared right back at her, surprised by the fact that they spoke at the same time.

Paulina stood up and stepped toward them. She lifted a hand then jabbed a finger into Steven's chest. "I understand that the Guys in White are a government funded organization that deals with ghosts. But if you hurt Desiree, I will hurt you right back. She is off limits." She started to turn then twisted back around to him. "Same goes for Ember, her family, _and_ Phantom." Her emerald eyes narrowed for a fraction then she turned toward Desiree. "I'm very angry with this whole lying thing." She folded her arms. "And it's going to take me a while to adjust to this whole I'm friends with a ghost thing, so you're going to have to be patient with me. I want to believe in second chances. So if you can both promise to be honest with me from now on, I won't cut you both out of my life right this instant."

"I swear I won't lie anymore," Desiree promised, not wanting to lose her friendship with the woman.

Steven took Paulina's hand. "I'm very sorry for my betrayal. My feelings for you were honest though, and if you'll allow it, I'd like to try again with you, now that you know my real profession."

Paulina rubbed at her forehead. "This sure has been an eventful morning." She glanced at Desiree as a curious frown slipped onto her face. "But why are you here anyway?"

Desiree blinked, the whole reason for coming over a blank in her mind after everything that just happened. "Oh! The other day when I left, I accidentally walked out with your necklace still on. I totally forgot that I was wearing it after I changed out of the wedding dress. I just wanted to put it back." She lowered her gaze, feeling rather embarrassed. "I didn't want you to think I was some sort of thief."

"Was that all?" Paulina laughed, surprising the ghost. "If you had just come over and explained that, I probably would have just said you could keep it." She smiled, and Desiree couldn't get over the shock of it. "The necklace looked really good on you."

"So about this whole ghost reproduction thing," Steven started with curiosity in his eyes.

"No way!" Desiree shook her head. "I'm not telling you anything about trade ghost secrets."

"But do you have pictures of the little one?" Paulina asked, equally curious. "Oh! And I want to see this guy that Ember's dating."

Desiree laughed. "I might be able to convince them to come for a visit. If," she glared at Steven, "you can promise me no Goons will come to ambush us all." Steven held up his hands in defeat. When she glanced at the other woman and saw the anger melting away from Paulina, Desiree relaxed, thinking next time she saw Vlad she would have to thank the half ghost for the advice on being honest with her friend.


	37. Chapter 37

"Hello. And who is this?"

Dash blinked, not recognizing the voice of the man that answered the phone. "Uh, this is Dash Baxter. I'm a friend of Fenton. And who are _you_?" His mouth thinned as he leaned against the kitchen counter.

"Vlad Masters. I'm," he gave a short snort of a laugh, and Dash could almost visualize the half a smirk on the man's face, though that was all he saw in his mind of the man's face, "a friend of the family. And I'm afraid Daniel isn't home at the moment. Though if you'd like, you can leave your message with me, and I shall pass it on to him when he returns."

Dash couldn't really explain it, but something in the man's voice, or the way he spoke, rubbed the doctor the wrong way. Irritation crawled over his skin as he listened to Vlad. "No, no message. Fenton happens to be here with me right now. I just wanted to see if anyone was at his house to pick up a few things."

"Oh?" Vlad sounded curious. "And why is that?"

"Well, Fenton and his son are sick, could just be a sore throat, so I'm having them stay here with me. I'm a doctor." Dash added the last part because for some reason he had this feeling that the man on the other end of the phone already considered him an idiot, for no real reason. "They came over late last night and weren't intending to stay, so they don't have a change of clothes or other necessities, like a toothbrush. I just wanted to see if someone was there to grab some clothes and stuff for them and bring them over here. That way I don't have to leave them alone." He sighed and added in a mumble, "Fenton's likely to want to sneak off and avoid taking care of himself."

"I see," Vlad said tightly, and Dash suspected the man's mouth thinned when he heard the mumble. "Daniel does have that tendency to put others' needs before his own. As noble as it is, he'll just wind up burning himself out at that rate. He'd do well to be a little more selfish sometimes."

"No kidding." Dash rolled his eyes and felt a little annoyed that he actually agreed with this stranger. "Well, if you can pick some things up, I'll give you my address and you can drop it off any time."

When the man agreed, Dash told him where his house was, even giving the man directions on how to get there from Fenton's house. After he hung up the phone, he rubbed tiredly at his face. Kwan swung by the house earlier to pick up Xander to take him to school. Once they were gone, Dash headed upstairs and opened the door to the guest bedroom to check on his patients. Fenton and Lex were still passed out in bed with son curled up against his father's side. If not for the pair being sick, it would be a rather cute scene upon which to accidentally intrude.

But Dash's checkup only lasted a few seconds before his gaze landed on the green furred dog laying guard at the foot of the bed. Being from Amity Park, the fact that the dog was a ghost didn't frighten him. What had him backing out of the room quickly was when the dog spotted him and jumped off the bed, suddenly transforming into a monstrous beast that growled furiously at him. Thinking on it, now that he wasn't quaking in fear that the dog would bite his head off, Dash remembered seeing that dog before, back in freshmen year. When it appeared in the cafeteria in that giant form, Dash was, like many others, terrified. _That_ was the ghost dog that appeared before his son? Part of him was a little scared of that now, seeing what the puppy could turn into, but other than growl at him, the dog didn't try to do anything to actually hurt him. Dash frowned in thought. Maybe the dog was simply trying to protect Fenton and his son, like a dog protecting its master. But that only brought up new questions in his mind. How did Fenton meet and bond with a ghost dog enough for it to see him as its master?

Hearing a thump, Dash turned and blinked at the raven haired man that entered the kitchen, holding a hand to his head. With a blink, he bit his lip, trying not to laugh at the man for running into the doorframe. It was kind of funny, but the man was suffering from being sick and laughing at him probably wouldn't yield a very good result.

"Would you like some tea?" Dash questioned, already grabbing the pot to fill it with water.

"Yeah," Fenton answered as his hand lowered to his throat. His voice was soft and hoarse, and from the wince, talking seemed to agitate the inflammation of his throat. "Were you just on the phone?"

"Yeah." Dash placed the pot on a burner and turned it on to boil the water. "Since you seem to have a houseguest hanging around all the time, I thought I would give calling your house a shot and see if anyone picked up. Luckily, some guy named Vlad was there, so he's going to bring over some clothes for you and Lex."

"Vlad?" Fenton repeated as he frowned. "What was he doing there?"

Dash shrugged. "He's one of your friends." But he mulled that over for a moment. Vlad got into Fenton's house, but Fenton didn't seem to know the man would be dropping by. How did the man get into Fenton's house? "You should probably try not talking too much. Let your throat rest."

Some of the confusion lifted from the man's face as Fenton's blue eyes suddenly widened. "Oh! Did you ask him to bring my laptop too?"

"Fenton," Dash growled, placing his hands on his hips as he glared at the man. "You are forbidden from doing any work while you're under my care. You are going to sit down and rest and enjoy a day of not having to lift even a single finger. After we go to my office for a real checkup, of course."

Fenton lifted his eyebrows, looking unimpressed by the stern glare directed at him. "I'm a grown man, and you can't bully me around like you used to in high school."

"No, but-" Dash blinked when Fenton sneezed suddenly, and rather violently. Fenton groaned, rubbing at his sore throat with agony in his eyes. Dash was a bit more distracted by the chill that swept through the kitchen, and he could have sworn that he saw a puff of white with each exhale for several minutes after the man sneezed. "You," he eyed the man with some suspicion, still trying to piece together this whole odd occurrence around the man, "are my patient, and I say you are going to take a break from work until you're feeling better."

Fenton laughed weakly. "I think that ibuprofen really did the trick. I'm feeling great."

Dash did _not_ look convinced even the slightest bit by Fenton's attempt to act healthy. The wincing didn't help Fenton's case either, and it was clear that his throat had gotten worse since the slight scratchiness last night. "You're not fooling anyone like that, Fenton." Dash took the pot off the stove and poured water into a mug. Or he tried to. He frowned when nothing came out of the spout on the pot. Setting the pot down, he yanked the top off and stared into it. "The water's frozen." He glanced at Fenton and frowned even more when the man turned his head away, nervousness in the way he shifted his body. His brow furrowed, trying to puzzle out what exactly was going on.

"How strange." Fenton rubbed at his neck, his gaze turning all around the room without once looking toward the blond man in front of him.

Dash narrowed his eyes. Whatever was going on, Fenton definitely knew what it was. "Well, it might take a bit more time to make that tea." He placed the pot back on the stove, turning up the heat in hopes that it would melt the block of ice inside the pot faster.

Fenton walked over to lean against the counter, keeping quite a bit of distance between them. "Have I mentioned how weird this whole you taking care of me things is?" Talking was definitely not helping the man with his throat problems because he cringed with nearly every word he spoke. "Well, really, all of this is. I was actually pretty terrified when I turned around and realized you were Lex's doctor that day." A smile flickered across his face. "I actually thought you'd pound me the moment you realized it was me. Just like back in the good old days." His eyes lowered, and Dash wondered what sort of things were going through Fenton's head at that moment.

"Yeah," Dash agreed with a bit of a chuckle, "that was a pretty shocking moment. Though I like to think that I've matured past that bully phase of my life." He eyed the other man hesitantly, chewing over his thoughts. "You know what else is weird?" He waited a moment, trying to gauge the man's reaction just from that simple question. Fenton responded with a curious expression as he tilted his head. "Every time you've sneezed, there seems to be a drop in the temperature." He nodded toward the pot on the stove. "Or the odd freezing of water."

Nervousness washed through the brilliant blue of Fenton's eyes as he looked away. "I have no explanation for that."

Dash kept a close watch on Fenton's reactions. The man didn't even try to tell Dash that he might be crazy for even suggesting that there might be some sort of relationship between the sneezing and the drop in temperature and water freezing. "Even stranger, last night, I could have sworn Lex's hair changed colors."

"Maybe it was the lighting. Because sometimes, I swear his hair starts to look a bit darker when the light hits it a certain way."

Dash stared blandly at the man. "Fenton, it looked a reddish purple. That's not _normal_."

Fenton was clearly searching for some sort of excuse to explain away that oddity, but he was failing badly. "Maybe, um, well, it _was_ pretty late. Maybe you were just tired and thought you saw it change colors." He leaned back on his hands then suddenly stumbled like he lost his balance when he misjudged where the counter was in relation to his hand.

Dash would have laughed at the clumsiness of the man, but the whole incident lost its amusing factor when he noticed that Fenton hadn't simply missed placing his hand on the counter. His hand literally went _through_ the counter. It was like - Dash narrowed his dark blue eyes as he searched for the proper word. It was like Fenton's arm went intangible and phased through the countertop. But that was crazy. The only thing he could think of that could phase through solid objects was a ghost, and Fenton most certainly _wasn't_ a ghost.

"Wow." Fenton laughed as he stood up straight again. "I think this whole throat thing is messing with my head. I'm usually not _that_ clumsy. At least, not anymore."

"I have _eyes_ , Fenton." Dash glowered at the man as the pot whistled after the water finally boiled. He switched off the stove and poured the hot water into the mug, ready with a tea bag to steep. "You can't really expect me to be blind to the fact that you just had your arm go through the countertop."

"You sure?" Fenton winced, hope almost managing to sneak into his eyes. "Maybe you just _thought_ you saw it do that."

"Fenton, do _not_ take me for an idiot." Dash's mouth pursed as his eyes flashed with fury. This wasn't high school anymore where everyone took him to be the stereotypical dumb jock. He was a doctor now, and his job usually involved having to be very observant of small details. "I know exactly what I saw." He folded his arms. "Now, do you want to try giving me a real explanation about these weird little occurrences, like why you're arm just went through the counter like a ghost?"

"Uh, well," Fenton mumbled with his gaze anywhere but at the other man in the room.

"Fenton, the truth!" Dash ordered in a firm bark, making Fenton flinch away.

With an exhausted sigh, Fenton tilted his head back to stare at the ceiling for a moment. "First Kwan. Now you." Lowering his head, he pressed his fingers into his eyes, rubbing at them. "Managed to keep any more people from finding out for the past sixteen years, and now it's like everyone's finding out." He dropped his hands away from his eyes as he finally turned to meet Dash's gaze. Silence filled the kitchen while Fenton mulled over exactly how to tell whatever the truth was. "You know how you pretty much fanboyed over Phantom in high school?"

"I wouldn't say fanboyed," Dash mumbled, scratching absently at a reddening cheek. "But what about it?" His brow knitted, trying to figure out the connection between that and what Fenton needed to say.

"Well," Fenton drew out the word awkwardly, "that was me."

"Come again?" Dash frowned at the forced grin on the raven haired man's face. Maybe being sick was starting to affect Fenton's brain and make him think crazy things.

"Right." Fenton shook his head. "Should have known just saying it wasn't enough."

Dash jumped, knocking back the mug of tea, spilling the hot liquid over the counter and floor when the ring of light appeared around Fenton's waist. "What the-" His eyes grew wide when he stared into vibrant green eyes, watching him with a nervous gleam. The costume he wore wasn't the same as Dash remembered from high school with the new addition of a cloak and goggles that rested a top the slicked back snow white hair. "How-" Dash rubbed at his face, disbelief washing over him like a torrent of water. How could this even be possible? How could Fenton be Phantom? It didn't make any sense! "This has to be a dream."

"Okay. That may have been a bad decision." Fenton slowly sank to the floor.

"Shit. What's wrong?" The doctor in him kicked into full gear as Dash hurried over to crouch in front the man. Ghost? What was Fenton anyway?

Fenton clamped his eyes shut. "Feels like a thousand hot pokers all stabbing at my throat." He held a hand to his throat as he tried to curl up into a tight ball, looking far more miserable than two seconds ago when he appeared to be a normal human.

Panic surged through him as he tried to keep calm. "Switch back!" Dash ordered for lack of knowing what else to do at the moment. He knew what to do when a human was sick. But what was he supposed to do for a sick ghost?

Fenton was slow to respond, but after he managed to revert back to his usual appearance, the pain in his expression eased away but didn't entirely disappear. "Remind me not to do that again," he mumbled, leaning forward to press his head against Dash's chest. "I don't feel so good now."


	38. Chapter 38

His concern hadn't faded even a little by the time he arrived at the front door of the man's house. Vlad frowned at the door as he pressed his finger against the doorbell for longer than necessary. Then he folded his arms and waited impatiently for the man to answer the door. Daniel was lucky so far, having not caught any sort of ghost illness over the years since his accident. It wasn't an overly common thing, though Vlad had gotten sick from a ghost bug on more than one occasion that wasn't related to the ecto acne he acquired during his accident. If it turned out that Daniel's sickness was a result of being half ghost and was something more serious than a simple bug, Vlad might have to take him and his son to find a doctor within the Ghost Zone. He would prefer if that didn't become necessary.

"Coming!" a man shouted from inside the house, and Vlad recognized the voice as the one with whom he spoke on the phone. In a moment, the door opened, and Vlad stared blandly, unimpressed, at the blond man standing before him. "And you are?" The man, Dash he recalled, frowned at him but was clearly distracted as he glanced worriedly back into the house.

"Vlad Masters," he answered, trying to follow the man's gaze into the house, but Vlad couldn't see much beyond the man. "We spoke on the phone."

"Oh, right, yeah." Dash nodded. "So, uh, you can just give me the clothes and be on your way."

"If you don't mind, I'd like to see Daniel." Vlad resisted the urge to snort at the affronted expression twisting upon the man's face. "Yes, I know. You're a doctor, and I'm sure you're a very good one and know exactly what to do to take care of Daniel and his son while they aren't feeling well. But humor me. I care a great deal for the man and want to check on him for myself. There's something private I wish to discuss with him as well."

Dash frowned in hesitation, clearly not wanting to comply with this stranger's wishes. Vlad couldn't exactly blame the man. They knew nothing about one another, and Dash obviously cared enough about Daniel to be greatly worried about his health.

"Vlad?" Daniel questioned puzzled as his voice sounded weak and scratchy. Dash stepped aside, allowing the man on his doorstep to enter the house. Vlad's mouth pulled thin when he looked the younger half ghost over and took in the state of his condition. Daniel looked exhausted with misery writ upon his face, no doubt his illness causing some great unpleasantness. There was a sheen of sweat upon his pale face, and he leaned against the hall's wall to keep himself on his feet.

"I told you to stay in the bathroom," Dash said, frowning with concern.

"I'm feeling a little better," Daniel insisted with a smile forced onto his face, but it was clear from the darkening scowl in Dash's blue eyes that he wasn't buying it.

"Daniel, you remain a terrible liar." Vlad strode forward to stand before the younger man. He stared down at Daniel, who tried to glower angrily back at him. "We should talk. In _private_." He stressed the word, hoping Daniel was still well enough in mind to catch his meaning.

Daniel shook his head then immediately appeared to regret the action as he held a hand to his head and his face draining several shades of color. "Okay. Remind me shaking head is bad."

Dash was over to his side in an instant. "Let's get you sitting down before we get into serious conversations." He looped one of Daniel's arms over his shoulders and supported the man as he led the way into the front room. Guiding the man over to the couch, he helped Daniel to sit. "Do you think you can manage the tea?"

Daniel winced at the mention of tea. "Sorry about that spill."

Dash shook his head, not looking bothered by the accident. "That was my fault." His blue eyes darted toward Vlad and narrowed as he frowned. "It shouldn't take more than a few minutes to get the tea ready." He headed out of the room, presumably to the kitchen.

"I don't think your friend likes me very much," Vlad commented offhandedly as he joined the younger half ghost on the couch.

"You're a bit of an acquired taste." Daniel eyed him with only a touch of amusement in his gaze. "And I'm assuming by private, you had something ghost related to discuss with me. In which case, you can feel free to say whatever it is in front of Dash because I just told him the truth about me."

Vlad's mouth tugged downward, staring rather gravely at the young man. "You told him?" He was not pleased with this news. "Daniel, I do hope you don't go around telling everyone you meet about your secret."

"You can lay off the whole overprotective mentor act. I'm a grown man, and I think I know a thing or two about knowing who I can and can't trust with my secret. It's not like I went and told him about _you_." Daniel narrowed his eyes furiously. "Anyway, it's pretty hard for me to deny things when he sees me using my powers. Not that I meant to." He groaned as he rubbed at his forehead. "Being sick is messing with my powers."

"And you're illness is exactly why I wanted to speak with you." Vlad turned toward the man. "I realize this could, of course, always be a simple human illness. But it could also be ghost related. I need to know of your symptoms."

"Well, uh-" Daniel sneezed, clamping his eyes shut in a painful expression.

"Fenton!" Dash growled, and the two half ghosts glanced toward the doorway where the blond man stood. He frowned at them and turned the mug upside down. "You froze it again."

"Sorry." Daniel winced.

"I see why you had to tell him," Vlad said, not too pleased. It would be difficult to explain that odd occurrence logically. "So sneezing, probably a runny nose." He wrinkled his own nose when he saw a dribble of snot oozing from Daniel's nostrils. The younger half ghost grabbed a tissue from the box sitting on the coffee table and blew his nose. "Since you mentioned a sore throat," his gaze briefly glanced toward Dash, "I obviously don't need to ask about your throat. Are those the only symptoms?"

"Fever," Dash added, folding his arms after he set the mug of frozen tea on the table, "lethargy, and nausea and vomiting."

"That was only because I shifted forms," Daniel argued, looking a little green as the mention of it. When Vlad stared at him inquisitively, Daniel sighed and added, "When I went ghost, I got hit with this really strong wave of nausea and spent a quite a while vomiting into the toilet. I felt a lot better after I transformed back."

Vlad nodded as he mulled over that information. "The sore throat aside, it sounds like the usual ghost bug. It should pass in a day or two, though it'll make turning into Phantom rather miserable."

"He knows?" Dash cocked an eyebrow at Daniel. "Just how many people know what you are?"

"You mean, other than all the ghosts I've fought?" Daniel laughed weakly. "Well, Tucker and Sam, obviously. Jazz found out before I even told her. Dan and Elle, also obviously. Valerie. And Kwan."

"What?" Dash shouted, shock exploding onto his face. "You told Kwan? When?"

"Just a couple of weeks ago," Daniel winced under the double glare from the two men in the room with him. "And I had to for the sake of helping him and Dan." He shook his head then cringed. "Anyway! What do you mean the sore throat aside? And if this is all ghost related, how come I haven't gotten sick like this ever before?"

Vlad sighed as he leaned back against the couch and folded his arms. "There aren't really that many ghost diseases floating around in the Ghost Zone. I've only been hit with the general ghost bug a handful of times. And by ghost bug, I mean there are actual bug ghosts that transmit the illness through biting a ghost. You probably wouldn't have even noticed when it happened, or merely took it to be a normal bug. You're lucky in that you have a human half and can lessen the nausea that accompanies the illness by reverting to your human form. Full ghosts generally suffer quite badly from that nausea." He glanced Dash's way. "But it can't be passed to normal humans so you don't need to worry about catching it." His mouth pursed as he thought over the sore throat element of the illness. All the times that he contracted the ghost bug, he never experienced any type of sore throat, but everything else that Daniel experience lined up perfectly with his own experiences. With the exception of sneezing causing things to freeze, but he lacked ice powers. Vlad blinked as the answer dawned on him. "Your Ghostly Wail."

"What?" Daniel questioned, brow knitting in his confusion.

"You have powers that I never developed. Your ice powers," Vlad nodded to the frozen mug of tea, "and your Ghostly Wail. The ghost bug must cause some issues with your unique powers, which results in you freezing things whenever you sneeze. The soreness in your throat is likely a result of your Ghostly Wail."

"But Lex's throat hurts too, and he doesn't have the Ghostly Wail," Daniel argued.

"Not yet," Vlad corrected. "As your son, he has the potential to learn the abilities that you've acquired. It's true he might not learn them all and he might develop his own unique abilities. The Ghostly Wail, however, might be one power that's passed down to him. He might not have learned to use it yet, but that doesn't mean he won't learn it later in life."

"I suppose that makes sense," Daniel mumbled thoughtfully.

"Really? Because my head feels like it's spinning trying to understand all this ghost talk." Dash rubbed at his forehead.

"I guess this is kind of a lot for you to get used to." Daniel worried his lower lip as he stared at the blond man. Vlad didn't even need to question it. From that expression, it was quite clear that the two men had grown rather close since meeting, and Daniel was naturally worried about how revealing this secret would affect their friendship. So far, Dash seemed to be handling it well, at least outwardly. He wasn't yelling angrily at Daniel, which was a good sign.

A scream came from upstairs. Daniel was on his feet in the blink of an idea, and regardless of any ill feelings he suffered by that quick action, he raced up the stairs to the second floor. Dash was half a second behind the half ghost as they both hurried to see about what the screaming was. Vlad followed at a slower pace. As concerned as he was about Daniel and his son, this seemed to be more of a family situation, and he, with a pang in his chest, was not family. When he arrived at the doorway to the bedroom, Vlad frowned as he stared at Daniel holding his son close. Cujo was present, too, laying on the floor with his head in his paws as he whined quietly, clearly as worried as the others about the pair.

"Shh, it's okay," Daniel whispered softly as he rocked his son.

"But - But!" Lex sobbed against his father's chest. "But Mom! And - And-"

"Shh!" Daniel bowed his head, threading his fingers through the blond locks of Lex's hair. "It was just a nightmare. The bad man isn't going to hurt you. You're safe." He continued trying to encourage his son that everything would be all right, though Lex's sobbing didn't seem to calm down even slightly.

It was a terribly heart wrenching scene to come across, and if he hadn't already changed his ways, seeing this probably would have crushed every scheme and plot Vlad had in the works. He could almost visualize a similar scene with a young Daniel sobbing against his mother after the loss of his father, and the image stabbed horribly at him to think that he could have been the one to cause such pain between parent and child. For so long, he lived a cruel and selfish life, thinking only of acquiring his own happiness no matter how he hurt others to achieve his goals. His love for Maddie had long been a terrible obsession for him, twisting him up inside into a monster that sometimes he didn't think had any right to be saved. But Daniel, being ever the noble hero that he was, allowed the broken and beaten villain a second chance when he could have easily ended their struggle in a much bloodier manner if not for the overwhelming kindness that he could display to even his greatest foes.

A sick twisting in his gut sent a wave of nausea over him when Vlad thought of the pain and suffering he could have caused to Daniel if he hadn't been saved in that moment. He could see now that nothing he did, especially the plans to eliminate Jack, would give him the family and love he so desperately wanted. He only would have earned the hatred and resentment of both Maddie and Daniel if he had ever succeeded, just as the Samantha's killer would never earn Daniel's forgiveness for his cruel actions.

Vlad stepped out of the room, allowing Daniel some amount of privacy as he comforted his son. His gaze lowered to the floor as he realized he would never have that type of relationship with anyone, never having a son of his own. It was one reason he tried to prove so much that he had changed. Daniel would never look at him as a father, but Vlad could at least treat him like a son and offer Daniel advice and help where needed. His hatred toward Jack lessened over the years as he reconnected with his college friends, but he realized their relationship would never be able to return to what it once was, which often felt like a heavy burden resting upon his shoulders.

"So," Dash said, joining him in the hall as he closed the door, "I'm guessing you're all ghostly like Fenton since you seem to know a lot about this."

"Yes," Vlad agreed as he leaned back against the wall and folded his arms. It seemed pointless to hide the fact when the man already knew so much. "And I hope you are capable of keeping secrets because if you spread one word about us, I won't hesitate to make you suffer for it." He pinned his most intimidating of glares on the man.

Dash returned it with a scowl. "Look." He stabbed a finger into Vlad's chest, which did little to improve his opinion of this blond man. "I get how important this secret is. I know there are ghost hunters out there and government goons that would just love to get their hands on a ghost. And human that happens to have weird ghost powers? That's sure to be a top prize for them. So I get it. I may not have been best buds with Fenton back in high school, but I always admired Phantom. And Fenton's become a pretty good friend to me ever since our sons became friends. But I'm not about to out him to the world. I'm not that kind of person." He frowned and added in a mumble, "Not anymore anyway."

"You'll have to forgive me if I don't place as much trust in you as Daniel does." Vlad slapped the hand away from him.

"Well, I don't exactly trust you either." Dash held his glare, locking them into a contest of wills until the doctor finally broke the connection. "What can I do to help Daniel and Lex get through this faster?"

Vlad sighed. "There's not really anything to do. There are doctors in the Ghost Zone, but they generally only take patients that are suffering from much more dangerous strains of illnesses. After diagnosing Daniel as having a common ghost bug, they'd just send him home and tell him to get lots of rest. The duration of the illness should be much shorter compared to full ghosts since Daniel can turn human, which greatly lessens to symptoms."

"So I noticed." Dash frowned with his gaze cast to the floor as he folded his arms. "When he proved to me he was Phantom, his symptoms were suddenly ten times worse. After he switched back, he seemed a lot better, though the nausea carried over."

"He should be fine in a day or two. Though I might suggest he consumes some ectoplasm," Vlad mumbled thoughtfully. "Being sick can be a great drain on the system, and even if he weren't using any powers, it would still eat up his stores. He'll probably need to replenish them before it makes him collapse." He recalled the first time he was hit with the ghost bug. The whole experience was miserable, laid up in bed for half a week, and by the time he was well enough to actually get up and move around again, he collapsed right after climbing out of bed. He already knew a little about ghost hunger at that point, but that was the first time he ever felt it that strongly.

"I'm sorry." Dash's blue eyes nearly tried to bulge out of their sockets. "Did you just say you wanted Fenton to eat ectoplasm?"

"It _is_ a part of him now." Vlad gazed with a bland look in his eyes at the man. "While consumption of ectoplasm could lead to very dangerous results in normal humans, for us, it would simply convert to energy. Those like Daniel and I don't necessarily need to eat ectoplasm to regain our spent energy. But after a large drain, such as being sick with a ghost bug, it would be wise to consume some ectoplasm."

"But," Dash scratched at his head, "ghosts are made up of ectoplasm, right? Isn't that cannibalism?"

Vlad's mouth nearly twitched into a smirk at the horror on the man's face at the thought that they were cannibals, in a way. "There are other means of consuming ectoplasm that don't require us to eat other ghosts. The Ghost Zone has its own vegetation created from ectoplasm and there are animal products, like chickens that lay eggs and cows for getting milk."

Dash blinked several times in surprise. "I never realized ghosts would have something like that."

"There's a lot about ghosts that the experts haven't even scratched the surface of." Vlad smirked, thinking of all the things that he discovered about ghosts since the accident. Jack and Maddie would probably love to pick his brain of all the little tidbits of information he held, but he had no plans to give any of those secrets away to them.


	39. Chapter 39

Kwan smiled pleasantly, greeting each of his students as they filed into the classroom. When he glanced into the room, he frowned as his gaze landed on Xander with his head resting on the desk looking miserable about his friend not being there today. The boy didn't want to leave his house that morning, worrying about his friend's health. Kwan was concerned too, but after reminding Xander that his father was a very good doctor and would take good care of Lex and his father, he managed to convince the boy to leave the house.

"Good morning, Mr. Long."

Kwan turned his head at the greeting and blinked in surprise at the man standing before him. "Mr. Duvall! Doesn't your wife usually drop Jeremy off today?" The man's son stood at his side, holding on tightly to his father's hand.

Mr. Duvall glanced briefly into the classroom before he returned his gaze to the teacher. "As my son has told me, you know about our little family situation."

"Oh," Kwan waved a hand, "you don't have to worry. I'm not going to go around spreading that kind of information. Think of me like a doctor or a therapist and there's that unsaid student-teacher confidentiality clause in there. What my students tell me, I don't tell to anyone else. Unless, of course, it's something that their parent should know about."

"I do appreciate that." Mr. Duvall nodded as he pulled his hand free from his son's hold then stroke his hand through the boy's hair. "I know I haven't exactly done a stellar job with disciplining my son, and I know that's caused you, and his prior teachers, some troubles. I apologize for his poor behavior."

The gears twisted in his mind, and Kwan frowned gravely at the man. "She's fighting for custody, isn't she?"

"Probably just to spite me," Mr. Duvall agreed.

"But I don't want to stay with Mom," Jeremy whined, hugging an arm around his father's leg.

"I know." Mr. Duvall frowned down at his son. "My job," he glanced back up at the teacher, "was rather demanding of my time, though my wife didn't seem to mind considering the amount of money I was raking in each year. I think she grew to hate me after she got pregnant and I wanted to keep the child while she," he winced, likely not wanting to say it in front of his son, "didn't. She can have want she wants. The mansion. The cars. I don't care if I have to live in a cheap one bedroom apartment so long as I can keep my son with me."

"I hope you'll win the custody battle," Kwan said, genuinely meaning it. Of the two, he had always liked speaking with Mr. Duvall far more than having to deal with his wife, who never thought she was in the wrong. About anything. He was fairly certain most, if not all, the other parents grew angry whenever they listened to her self-righteous speeches. Her "ideas" on how to save the school money often incited arguments at school meetings. Between the pair, Mr. Duvall seemed like he would have a better chance at raising his son into a decent person. Mrs. Duvall's influence only created a little brat.

"I hope so too. I," sadness passed through Mr. Duvall's eyes, "don't think I could live without my son. I always wanted a son."

"I'm sure the judge will see that you're the more fit parent."

Mr. Duvall nodded then dropped his gaze to his son. "I'll pick you up after school." He smiled as he patted Jeremy's head. Then with a polite goodbye, he headed back down the hall.

Kwan crouched down in front the boy, who sadly watched his father leave. "Is everything going okay at home?"

Jeremy glanced at him before dropping his gaze. "Dad and Mom argue a lot. They get really loud so I hide in my room."

Kwan held back a sigh. "I know it's difficult right now, but once the divorce is over, things should get better. I know it would be better if your parents could stay together and be happy, but life doesn't always work out the way you want it. But," he tilted the boy's head up, "none of this is your fault."

Jeremy's eyes glanced away. "Is it bad that I don't want to end up with my mom?"

Kwan could see the guilt in the boy's expression. "Of course not. You love your dad and want to stay with him. There's nothing wrong with that. Now," he stood up, "we have a big, fun day of learning. Do you want to pass out the papers?"

Jeremy blinked up at his teacher. "Can I?"

"Of course." Kwan smiled at the boy as he walked over to his desk. Picking up the stack of work sheets, he handed them to Jeremy to pass out to the other students.

"Mr. Long! Mr. Long!"

Kwan glanced up to see the little red headed girl stretching her arm into the air as high as it could go. "Yes, Denise. What is it?"

"Lex hasn't shown up yet." Denise frowned as she lowered her arm.

"Lex is home sick for the day."

"Will he be better by the weekend?" Denise gave a hopeful look.

"We'll have to wait and see if he feels better by then." Kwan turned to the board to write out some notes about the day's lesson plan. When he heard Jeremy speak, he tossed a glance over his shoulder.

"I hope Lex gets better soon," Jeremy told Xander as he laid the work sheet onto the other boy's desk.

"Thanks," Xander mumbled quietly, keeping his gaze lowered.

Kwan smiled a little to himself seeing Jeremy improving from his bullying behavior, but he hated seeing Xander looking so miserable. He could see the announcement of Lex being sick got frowns from the other students too, especially Denise who had started to become a regular in the grouping with Lex and Xander. The day went on as usual with him teaching the children. Toward the end of the day, they held a little class meeting to decide what roles everyone would take in the play for the end of the year. It was still quite some time away, but they needed to make sure they had a costume ready for each child, mostly done by the parents, and the children needed to learn the song. "Old MacDonald Had a Farm" wasn't a difficult song to remember, but for little second graders, sometimes the words got forgotten when it came time to perform.

"So, Xander," Kwan said as they left the classroom, "what do you think we should do for dinner? I bet your dad had his hands full taking care of Danny and Lex, so he might be happy to just have something hot and ready when we get back."

Xander tapped at his chin, deep in thought over what he wanted to eat for dinner. "Burgers!"

Kwan thought about it and decided that would probably be okay. If he went to Ed's, he could pick up some soup for Danny and Lex to have. "Maybe," he said with a sly grin, "we can get some shakes as well."

Xander cheered at that suggestion. "Can we get strawberry? Oh! And chocolate. Lex likes chocolate."

"Sure." Kwan chuckled as he ruffled the boy's raven hair.

They climbed into his car, and Kwan drove toward Ed's to pick up their dinner. He used the drive through and ordered burgers for him, Dash, and Xander and a large tub of chicken noodle soup for Danny and Lex. Not sure what kind of milk shake Danny liked, Kwan simply ordered one in each flavor of strawberry, chocolate, and vanilla. The pimply faced teenager working the drive through handed him the order, looking none too happy with what was probably a part time job for him. His mouth pulled down in a frown, and his eyes were half lidded in boredom. Kwan thanked him regardless, checking to make sure everything he ordered was accounted for before he drove away from the fast food joint.

"Will Lex be better now?" Xander asked as they headed back to Dash's house.

"Probably not." Frowning, Kwan glanced into the rear view mirror and saw the sad look crossing over the boy's face. "You remember the last time you were sick? That lasted for a couple of days." He sighed when Xander toyed with the hem of his shirt, remaining quiet. "I'm sure Lex will be just fine in no time." Xander merely nodded in response.

The rest of the ride to Dash's house was silent as Xander leaned back against his seat and stared out the window at the passing scenery. When they reached the house, Xander headed immediately toward the front door while Kwan grabbed the bags of food and the tray with the milk shakes.

"Do you want to ring the bell for me?" Kwan asked as he neared the front door since his hands were too full to try reaching for the keys in his pocket. Xander stretched up his arm and pressed the doorbell, holding it down much longer than necessary. By the time Kwan reached the doorstep, Dash had already opened the door to allow his son to enter the house. "I hope you don't mind that we stopped at Ed's to pick up some dinner."

Dash shook his head with a roll of his eyes. "That's fine." He closed the door after Kwan stepped into the house.

"Daddy," Xander tugged at his father's pant leg, "is it okay if I play with Lex?"

"Well, I don't know if he's really up for playing, but you can go see if he wants to."

"Are you sure that's okay?" Kwan asked worriedly as he watched Xander dart into the front room to see his friend. "What if he gets what Lex has?"

"There's no worry about that." Dash smirked secretively at the confused pinching of Kwan's brow. "Fenton spilled the beans to me earlier about that little secret. It was kind of hard for him to keep lying about it when I saw his arm phase right through the kitchen counter. I see why you were spacing out so much now after learning about that."

"Yeah." Kwan laughed awkwardly, because Danny's secret wasn't the only thing that kept distracting his mind at odd moments. He followed Dash into the dining room and set the bags and drink tray down on the table. "It was pretty mind blowing to learn about that. Did you go all fanboy on him when you found out whom he was?" He grinned teasingly at his friend.

"No," Dash snapped quickly. "I was kind of too shocked about the whole thing to really respond. And anyway, showing me the truth kind of made his illness even worse, so," he shrugged, "taking care of him took precedence over any sort of freak out. What they have isn't something can be passed on to us."

Kwan blinked at him several times. "Ghosts have their own illnesses?" That fact spun around dizzily in his head, but he supposed it was entirely possible that ghosts would have diseases too.

"Yeah, seems Fenton didn't even really know about it." Dash shrugged as he exited the dining room to grab plates and cups from the kitchen.

Kwan opened up the bags and started pulling out the burgers and soup. When he glanced up, he saw Danny wandering into the dining room. "How are you feeling?"

"My throat is killing me," Danny said in a weak voice that made him wince. "But beyond that, as long as I stay human, I'm feeling okay."

"Liar," Dash muttered as he entered the dining room. "And trying to say that you're fine isn't going to convince me to let you use your laptop to do work." He glared at the other man, who frowned right back, seeming determined not to let being sick stop him from getting stuff done.

Kwan bit back a laugh because the two were only making him think of an old married couple bickering. He grabbed one of the cups that Dash brought in and poured some of the strawberry milk shake into it. "I got you a vanilla milk shake," he told Danny. "I didn't know what kind you liked, but I figured it would feel good on your throat."

Danny nodded. "Vanilla should be fine." His mouth twitched into a smile. "I pretty much like any flavor, though Lex is pretty set on loving chocolate." Then he made a face, his nose scrunching up like he was getting ready to sneeze.

"Oh no you don't!" Dash quickly crossed over to the other man, catching Danny's nose between his thumb and forefinger.

"I can't help that I need to sneeze," Danny complained, his voice sounding funny like that.

"Yeah, well, you're not going to freeze our dinner into blocks of ice." Dash ushered the man out of the dining room, still holding Danny's nose to stop him from releasing his sneeze. "At least, Lex only changes hair color," he grumbled as they headed far enough away from the dining room that Danny's sneeze wouldn't affect the food.

Kwan laughed once they were gone. It was strange seeing them act like old friends after how they treated each other in high school, but he was glad they were able to get along.

"Uncle Kwan," Xander said as he came to stand next to the man. "Lex is stuck in the couch."

"What?" Kwan blinked down at the boy, the words not making sense in his brain.

Xander took hold of his hand and tugged the man into the front room. "See?" He pointed toward the couch where Lex's lower half was hidden from view by the couch. The blond boy looked miserable as he struggled, pushing against the cushions in an attempt to get free. "He's stuck."

Kwan scratched at the side of his head, but it seemed Lex didn't have to be frustrated about not telling his friend his secret anymore. Walking over, he crouched down in front of the blond boy while Xander climbed onto the couch. "Lex, calm down for a moment," he instructed, and Lex lifted his head, frowning at the man.

"I can't get out!"Lex's lower lip quivered, and worry flashed in his blue eyes.

"How did he get stuck?" Xander blinked owlishly in curiosity. "One moment we were just sitting here, then whoosh!" He made a motion of his arm dropping downward. "He just sank into the couch. Like when Cujo walked through the box of Legos!"

Kwan sweated at those questions because he had no right blabbing the secret, but it was pretty difficult to think up another explanation while Lex was literally stuck in the couch. "First, let's get Lex out of the couch. Lex," he turned to the boy, "have you worked on intangibility yet?"

"Not - Not a whole lot." Lex sniffed, obviously the experience frightening him.

"But you know the general idea of it, right? Just take deep breaths and focus on how to turn intangible. Don't rush it. You don't need to panic. Just take your time." Kwan took hold of Lex's hand and gave it a gentle, encouraging squeeze.

"You can do it, Lex!" Xander cheered with a big grin on his face.

Lex sniffed a few times before taking a deep breath. His face scrunched up in concentration. After several moments, he huffed a breath, his face red from the effort. "I can't do it," he mumbled in disappointment.

"Yes, you can! I know you can!" Xander raised up fisted hands, determined belief in his eyes.

"Don't force it. Just let it happen," Kwan suggested, though he thought he should probably get Danny to deal with this.

Frowning, Lex closed his eyes as he tried a second time to use his ability of intangibility.

"What's going on?"

Kwan turned his head to see Danny and Dash standing in the doorway. Danny's eyes were wide as he stared past the teacher to his son.

"He's doing it! He's doing it!" Xander cheered as Lex slowly moved forward through the couch.

"So much for keeping it secret." Danny sighed as Dash patted him on the shoulder. Crossing over to the couch, he lifted his son up into his arms. "I'm so proud of you." He hugged his son.

"I fell through the couch," Lex explained quietly. "But - But Mr. Kwan and Xan helped me."

"I saw. You're doing so well with your powers."

"Are you, like, superheroes?" Xander questioned, excitement at that prospect sparkling in his eyes.

Danny laughed weakly. "Something like that."

"I think it's time for dinner," Dash cut in to save Danny from having to explain anything further. "Does someone need to wash his hands before dinner?" He placed his hands on his hips as he stared down at his son.

"No," Xander answered immediately, raising his hands up for his father to see. "All clean!"

"You sure?" Maybe we should give them an extra cleaning. Just in case."

"No!" Xander hopped off the couch and ran away when Dash tried to catch him.

"Ah, the never ending battle of keeping one's child clean," Kwan said as he stood up with an amused smile.

"And you want one of your own?" Danny questioned with a raised eyebrow and an amused smile as he carried his son toward the dining room.

"One day." Kwan rubbed at the back of his neck, feeling rather embarrassed. "Probably a hopeless idea. You know, with Dan and everything." After growing up in a big family, he always thought that he would have children. He knew adoption was an option, but he always imagined he would have a child of his own.

Danny frowned as he settled Lex into a chair at the dining table. "Well, you could adopt. Or surrogacy. Or I could-"

"All right, my messy little Picasso." Dash entered with Xander hanging upside down in his arms as he giggled. "Now that you're all clean, we can eat."

Kwan joined them at the table as they served out the burgers and Danny spooned out the soup into bowls for him and Lex. It felt nice, like being among family, but Kwan couldn't shake that feeling of being the odd man out, like he didn't quite belong among their little family unit.


	40. Chapter 40

"At this rate, I might as well just go ahead and tell Paulina too so that you and Kwan don't have to lie to her," Danny said tiredly as he held out a spoonful of creamy ecto peanut butter for his son to take. The day felt extraordinarily long after that morning when he showed Dash that he was Phantom. The blond man didn't get much of a chance to start in on all the questions he probably had when Danny ended up needing to spend quite a bit of time in the bathroom vomiting. Then Vlad turning up interrupted another chance for Dash to question him, and after Lex woke up from a nightmare, they didn't really get another chance at being alone for a private discussion. While Danny comforted Lex from the bad dream, Vlad made a quick trip back to Danny's house to grab some of his ectoplasm products so that Danny and Lex could regain energy lost from being sick.

Lex took the spoon and sat down on the floor with Xander, who was rubbing at Cujo's belly. Sticking the spoon in his mouth, he sucked at the ecto peanut butter. He seemed to be doing better than last night, or at least he wasn't letting the pain show as much outwardly. From the pain in his own throat, Danny knew his son was definitely still hurting.

"I don't know how good an idea that is," Dash said with some wariness. "You know she had a massive crush on Phantom in high school."

"Yeah," Danny shrugged, "but we've all grown up since then. Though I have to say, it is kind of a relief to have it out in the open now." He picked up the second spoon and dug out another glob of ecto peanut butter for himself. "Now I don't have to constantly watch my back around you." He brought the spoon to his mouth and licked off some of the ecto peanut butter. "Um," he glanced around, somewhat nervously, "how are you handling all of this? I know it's a lot to take in. I was scared of some kind of major blow out."

Dash frowned, scratching the side of his head. "It's," he sighed, "not easy to just accept. I mean, sh-" He caught himself, throwing a wary look toward the boys, who were paying more attention to the ghost dog than to their parents' conversation. "I did a _lot_ of stuff to you back then that I'm not exactly proud of. And," his eyes bulged slightly as he shook his head, "finding out that I did that stuff to my hero? To someone I looked up to? I'm actually surprised you don't completely hate me. You could have gotten away at any point if you really wanted to."

"Dash, that's all in the past. And it's not like I didn't use my powers to my advantage on occasion. I'm not proud of everything in my past either." Danny shifted uncomfortably, lowering his gaze. "But I'm really glad we got the chance to meet again. I really like hanging out with you like this."

"As weird as it to admit it, I do too. Mostly, I only really hang out with Kwan and Paulina, but on occasion, I end up getting stuck talking with some of the moms." Dash rolled his eyes at the memory of that. "Not that they're bad to talk with, but when one of them gets me alone to talk in private, that's usually when the flirting starts. Or you know, purposely spilling a drink on me so that they can help me clean up. But with you, it's like we're old friends and I just relax and not feel on guard like I do when dealing with some of the other parents. I guess it helps that we have some sort of history together and we aren't just talking because our sons are friends. But!" He nearly pulled at his hair with one hand. "How is it you can just forgive me? I made you eat my _underwear_ that one time. It was supposed to be a joke, really. I didn't actually expect you to do it."

Danny laughed weakly and awkwardly. "Yeah, that was really the stuff of nightmares." He allowed a small smile to slip onto his face. "And that's one of those times when ghost powers really came in handy." He laughed at the wide eyed expression of shock on Dash's face. "It was pretty tricky to accomplish, but I managed to turn a pathway through my body intangible and let it slide right through me. I'm actually surprised it even worked." He tugged at an ear. "I wasn't exactly all that great with my powers then. As for forgiving you, well, I'd rather just let all that stuff lay in the past and not let myself get consumed with hate and anger." He knew exactly what kind of monster he could become if he allowed himself to be fueled by negative emotions.

"Man," Dash breathed out as he shook his head in disbelief. "You're a lot stronger than I ever gave you credit for back then."

Xander came over to them and leaned against the space of the couch between the two adults. "So you're like the hero from Daddy's movie?" He picked at a loose strand on the couch's cushion as he stared starry eyed at his friend's father.

Danny glanced briefly at Dash before leaning forward with his elbows digging into his thighs. "Yup," he answered, smiling down at the boy. "But the name's Phantom, not Inviso-Bill."

"That's so cool!" Xander gaped in awe at him. "Is Lex going to be a hero like you?"

"Maybe one day." Danny ruffled the boy's raven hair with a smile on his face. "But for now, he's still learning how to use his powers."

"Now, Xander," Dash said with a serious tone in his voice as he stared down at his son. "I know this is very exciting news, but you can't tell anyone about it. It's very important that this stays a secret, so you can't let it accidentally slip out like you did with Cujo."

Xander frowned as he lowered his gaze. "I didn't mean to." His hand curled tightly around the fabric of the cushion. "But-" His head jerked upward. "But Jeremy's being nice now! So - So I won't make that mistake again! I really do promise I won't tell anyone."

"Well," Danny said as he stood, "as long as you're careful not to let it slip." He grinned at the boy before his gaze drifted to his son, who was curled up on the floor and using Cujo like a pillow. He no longer had to fret about Lex being angry with him for not allowing him to tell his friend their secret, but he hoped Xander would manage to keep from accidentally spilling the beans this time. "I think it's time for bed." He picked up the lid from the table and twisted it back onto the jar. Eating some of the ecto peanut butter did make him feel a little better, lessening that drained feeling he had earlier that day.

"Um, can - Can Cujo sleep in my bed tonight?" Xander asked as he twisted his shirt with his gaze glued to the floor.

"I don't know how much I like that idea." Frowning, Dash pushed himself to his feet. "After seeing what Cujo can do."

"Cujo's very child friendly," Danny insisted, though he could understand Dash's worries since Cujo's bigger form could be rather frightening. "He's not going to hurt Xander, and he'll only transform if some threat is trying to hurt any of us. He's an excellent guard dog."

"Well," Dash's mouth continued to pull downward, but he couldn't keep it up for long and sighed, "I suppose you wouldn't let him near Lex if he was going to hurt him. But," he placed his hands on his hips as he stared sternly at his son, "I don't want you using this as an excuse to stay up late."

"I promise I won't!" Xander then turned his gaze onto Danny. "Will you read the bedtime story tonight?"

"We should probably let your father do it." Danny rubbed at his throat. "I need to let my throat rest up so it will heal faster."

"Oh," Xander mumbled in disappointment.

"But I promise I'll read to you when I'm feeling better." Danny smiled at the boy, who immediately grinned right back. He walked over to his son and picked him up. "How's my big guy feeling?" He pressed a hand to Lex's forehead, which still felt a little warm.

"Throat hurts," Lex murmured, pressing his head into the crook of his father's neck.

"I know." Danny rubbed at his back. "But it should only be for a couple of days." He really hoped Vlad was right about that, but since the older half ghost had more experience with the ghost bug, Danny decided he had no reason not to believe him. He followed Dash and Xander up the stairs to get the boys ready for bed while Cujo trotted along behind him.

After the boys brushed their teeth and washed up, they all headed into Xander's bedroom where Dash read them a bedtime story. Cujo hopped onto the bed and curled up beside Xander, who happily scratched behind the puppy's ears as he listened to the story. When the story was finished, Danny carried his son into the guest bedroom and tucked him into bed. Even if Xander couldn't contract the ghost bug, Danny still thought it was best that Lex slept with him until they were over the illness. He brushed back the blond bangs as he stared down into his son's eyes, which held a touch of misery.

"Just a few days," Danny assured him quietly. "You'll feel a lot better in a few days." Lex merely nodded mutely before curling up on his side and trying to fall asleep. Once it looked like his son would drift off, somewhat, peacefully to sleep, Danny stepped out of the bedroom, closing the door until it was slightly ajar.

"You should probably get to bed early too," Dash said, standing there with his arms folded and that stern doctor glare in his gaze.

"I thought I'd have a cup of tea first." Danny rubbed at his throat with a wince. "And I figured we could talk more with the boys in bed." He wasn't sure what Dash might want to talk about, but he figured the man would have questions about the whole half ghost thing. "So if I hadn't collapsed like a wimp after going ghost," he laughed weakly as they entered the kitchen, "what would your reaction been like?"

"First of all, probably a lot of shouting and demanding to know how the hell you even have ghost powers," Dash answered as he frowned severely at the other man. "Because seriously, how the hell are you Phantom? That's just," he touched his hands to the sides of his head before popping his fingers outward, "mind blowing. How does a living human become half ghost? I mean, people don't just magically become half ghost, so the thoughts running through my head over that whole thing are kind of," he winced as he turned on the burner under the pot, "gruesome. But," he grabbed hold of Danny and gave him a sharp shake, "more importantly, you are not a wimp. I may not have had the highest opinion of you in high school, but you definitely earned some respect points when you led us all against the ghost that took our parents. A wimp doesn't take charge like that. And it's okay for you to express pain. It's not doing you any good bottling it all up inside."

"You're not just talking about me being sick, are you?" Danny asked warily as he eyed the man in front of him.

Dash stepped back and raked a hand through his hair. "Man, when I started with that superhero talk, I didn't think I was speaking to an actual superhero." He wore half a smile, and Danny awkwardly returned it, shifting uncomfortably as he remembered why Dash even made that superhero speech. "Fenton, the weight of the world isn't on your shoulders. I may not know all of what you have to deal with being Phantom, but I do know that much. You don't have to go it alone, and I'm sure your friends would never let you go up against a challenge without going with you. It's not weakness to need help, and you have a lot of people in your life that will support you and aid you. All you need to do is reach out and ask for it." He placed a hand on Danny's shoulder and squeezed it. "So stop shouldering everything alone and _please_ stop ignoring your own health. What's going to happen to Lex if you burn yourself out like this?"

Danny blinked several times when Dash finished speaking. "I guess," he turned his gaze away as he rubbed at his neck, "I've just always thought since I have these ghost powers, it's my responsibility to keep the world safe from ghosts attacking it. I know I have allies, but I just," he sighed, shoulders sagging, "get stuck in that mindset that each challenge has to be overcome by my power and my power alone."

"Well, stop thinking like that." Dash poked him in the forehead before he turned around to pour the tea. "And I'm going to make sure to remind you that you can ask for help just so you don't forget."

"You don't have-"

"I'm going to ignore any protests," Dash said firmly.

Danny chuckled as he shook his head. "Thanks, Dash."


	41. Chapter 41

Kwan left the house, walking toward his car as he shoved his hand into his pocket to grab his keys. He had to laugh to himself when he recalled the dinner he sat through about an hour ago. Even if there was nothing romantically going on between Dash and Danny, they had that whole family vibe going on, like they would work well together parenting their sons. They had a nice comfort level with the way they talked and acted around each other that Kwan was rather shocked to see. He reached up and scratched a hand through his short locks, never imaging that he would have any sort of feelings toward a version of Danny from an alternate timeline. It sounded like something he would read in a book, not something that would happen to him in real life. He shook the thoughts from his head as he started to insert the key into the lock on the driver's side door.

"I only came out here to tell you no."

Kwan halted at the voice, snapping his head around so fast that he swore it almost broke from the sudden twisting. His aqua green eyes grew wide when they landed on Valerie, who was dressed in a strange black and red suit. Her green eyes were livid with anger as she glared at the man with whom she spoke.

"Will just hear me out before you automatically refuse?" the man questioned with a frown on his dark skinned face.

Valerie folded her arms, looking very much not convinced to listen to a single word the man had to say. "Why should I trust anything the Guys in White have to say?"

Kwan's mouth fell open when he heard her question. What were the Guys in White doing here? He knew that they were a government agency, and naturally they would have facilities throughout the country. But why were they here, at Dash's house? A cold wash of fear spilled down his spine as a thought practically smacked him between the eyes. Danny! But they couldn't possibly know the truth about Danny! His gaze darted back to the house. Danny wasn't exactly fit for a fight in his ill condition, especially if turning into Phantom made his symptoms worse.

"We can try to keep an eye on Danny as much as possible," the man explained, "but obviously, he won't stand for it if he comes to realize our presence." He folded his arms with a grave expression on his face. It was only then that Kwan really took in the man's appearance and noted the complete lack of white attire. The man was trying to keep his identity as an agent for the Guys in White secret. "But you-"

"You really expect to act as a spy for you?" Valerie scoffed with a snort. "In case you are too stupid to realize it, I happen to have a job. Which is several states away from here. And while that not might seem important to you, I rather like my job." She narrowed her eyes. "I'm not going to quit it just to play spy for an organization that I don't trust as hard as I can punch you in the face right now."

"I am well aware of your current employment and location of residency." The man sighed, partially in exasperation. "If you just listen to me, you might change your mind about your refusal."

"Don't count on it." Valerie sounded as stubborn as ever, which brought a smile to Kwan's face.

"Sir," said another man, coming up to salute the one talking with Valerie. "I've done a sweep of the perimeter, and we might have an issue of concern." Bright blue eyes shot toward him, and Kwan jerked back a step, fumbling with his keys that dropped to the ground.

"Thank you, Steven." The man nodded to his subordinate as he frowned in Kwan's direction.

"Man, you guys are so dour." Valerie shook her head, but Kwan didn't miss that flicker of concern in her eyes. "Tell me. Is it ever an issue that your boss is a month younger than you?" She let a sly smirk slip onto her face at their stunned looks. "Oh yeah, I'm just as capable of researching you guys as you are of me. And Kwan is totally not an issue." She unfolded her arms and poked a finger into the boss' chest. "Keep away from Danny, or you'll have me to deal with." She held up a tight fist with a threatening glare.

"Just take a look at this when you have the time." The boss held out a file for her to take. "Come on. We better head back to headquarters." He led the way away from the house with his underling Steven following after him.

Valerie sighed as she tucked the file under one arm and approached Kwan. "So how much of that did you hear?"

"Enough to make me wonder what sort of dealings you have with the Guys in White when you're dating a half ghost," Kwan answered, frowning at her before he bent down to snatch his keys from the ground.

"Ah, so you've joined the crazy club." Valerie nodded with an amused smile.

"Yeah, the shirt's still in the mail." Kwan eyed her with a curious wariness. "What's with that get up?" His gaze ran over her body as he gestured at her with one hand.

Valerie dropped her gaze then sighed. "I came through the Ghost Zone to get here faster." She looked like she barely even thought about it before the black and red suit broke apart and disappeared, to where Kwan wasn't sure, but it made his eyes bulge all the same from shock. "And I guess we really need to have a talk now."

"Yeah," Kwan replied hesitantly as he tugged at an ear. He actually planned on calling her, at some point, when he finally worked up the courage to talk with her about the thoughts in his head. "Want to get some coffee?"

When Valerie agreed, they climbed into his car. The drive was silent, and Kwan's gaze kept straying to the file that sat in Valerie's lap, wondering what sort of information the Guys in White would pass onto her and why. His hands sweated as the questions turned around in his head, and not simply about the Guys in White. When they reached SereniTea, Kwan ordered a caramel latte for himself and a coffee, black, for Valerie, who didn't care for anything fancy. With their drinks in hand, they sat in his car for several moments in silent.

"So pretty crazy about Danny and them, huh?" Valerie laughed awkwardly to break the quiet before she lifted her cup to her mouth and took a sip of the hot, bitter liquid.

"Yeah," Kwan mumbled his agreement as he stared down into his drink, twisting the cup around in his hands. "How about we start with what happened tonight?" It seemed like a good enough place as any to begin, though he knew he was simply pushing back the real questions he had to avoid even talking about it. "Why were you meeting with the Guys in White? And what was with that suit?" He thought he remembered someone dressed up like that running around Amity Park during high school.

"I guess starting from the beginning would be the easiest." Valerie leaned an elbow against the door and rubbed at the back of her neck. "It started with that whole fall from popularity thing when my dad lost his job. Well, Danny, as I know now, was only trying to help out this ghost dog."

"Cujo?" Kwan blinked in surprise at her.

"Oh? You've met him?" Valerie chuckled lightly. "Well, he was a bit of a terror at that time because Danny didn't know what exactly he wanted, and he kept escaping from the Ghost Zone. Anyway, it was just this huge combination of things that led to me wanting revenge against Danny. I was kind of a selfish bitch, pinning all the blame on him. So when I was given the means and opportunity to get my vengeance, I grabbed at it."

"You joined up with the Guys in White?" Kwan gawked at her in utter shock. He couldn't believe that she would join that organization just to get revenge.

"No!" Valerie glared darkly, and she struggled to keep her hand from closing tightly around the cup of hot coffee. "Ugh! I would never join those jerks. No, at that time, Vlad was very into seeking a way to break up Danny's family, and he decided using my desire for revenge could help him by monitoring Danny through surveillance on the gear he gave me to hunt ghosts. Stuff happened, and during a fight with this ghost called Technus, I got this new suit that kind of, I guess, is fused with me so it responds to my thoughts. It took a while to get used to that." She laughed as she stared down at her hands.

"Man, this all so much to deal with." Kwan rubbed at his forehead, feeling a pounding at his skull. "So if you didn't join up with the Guys in White, why did they want to talk with you? They don't know about Danny, do they?"

Valerie shook her head. "Thankfully, they're complete idiots when it comes to figuring out Danny's identity. But they know about my history with fighting ghosts, and that I'm friends with Danny." She frowned at the file in her lap. "They want my help with keeping tabs on Danny."

"If they don't suspect anything about Danny's identity, why are they keeping tabs on Danny?"

Valerie lifted her gaze to him, and pain and sorrow showed in her green eyes. "If I have to guess, it probably has to do with Sam."

"Oh." Kwan bit the inside of his cheek as he looked away. That seemed like a topic that was better left alone unless the other person wished to speak about it. "So you and Elle." He glanced sidelong at her, shifting awkwardly in his seat. "That must have been weird. With her being Danny's clone and all."

"Yeah," Valerie agreed then took a sip of her coffee. "It was pretty weird at first. I had a lot questions circling around in my head at first. I mean, I had a lot of fun hanging out with Elle. Then feelings started to get in the way." She sighed as she closed her eyes for a moment. "At first, I thought it was just lingering feelings for Danny being transferred to Elle. They look a lot alike, and they share quite a few interests. But then I realized something. Elle isn't Danny. She might have been created using Danny's DNA and have similarities with him, but she's not him. She developed a lot into her own person. I think she was really good for me. Danny stresses out a lot about, well, everything really. Elle has a much more relaxed attitude to life, and I think I really needed that in my life at the time. It helped me release some of my anger at Danny, even after learning the truth about him. But most importantly, I love her more than I ever loved Danny."

"The whole half ghost thing didn't bother you?" Kwan lifted an eyebrow as he gazed at her.

Valerie blinked then shrugged. "I mean, sure, it was weird to think about at first. But so she's got ghost powers? I still love her." She frowned, brow drawing together as she leaned toward him. "What's this really about, Kwan?"

"Dan," Kwan answered, leaning back against his seat and tilting his head back to stare at the ceiling of the car. "Unlike Danny and Elle, Dan's full ghost." His brow creased because that point kept jabbing at his brain whenever he thought on the topic. "There's no human side left to him."

"Well, let me ask you this," Valerie said, taking on a rather serious tone. "Do you like him?"

Kwan glanced toward her and felt a flush of color rise to his cheeks. "Well, I mean-"

"No, Kwan." Valerie shook her head. "None of this 'well maybe' kind of talk. It's a very simple question. Do you like him?"

"I think-" Kwan scratched at his cheek, feeling a fluster of embarrassment. He caught the glare in Valerie's green eyes and sighed. "Yeah, I like him. It makes, like, zero sense. He's a ghost. And I got bad vibes from him when we met. And I thought he was a major jerk when he just suddenly kissed me at Bob's Bar and Grill."

"Don't focus too hard about the fact that he's a full ghost. Trust me. I know how weird it is to think about the fact that Elle has a ghost side. But if you like him, isn't that really all that matters? Or does being a ghost mean he doesn't have any right to fall in love and be loved in return?" Valerie gave him a pointed glare.

"That's not what I was trying to say." Kwan scratched at the side of his head as he frowned. "But that's not entirely the whole thing. He told me about his timeline. Apparently, in his universe, I kept trying to talk to him and convince that he was still the hero that I remembered him being. What if he's expecting me to be like that Kwan? What if I can't be the Kwan he remembers from his time?"

"I think that's something that you need to discuss with him. You're just going to stress yourself out if you keep focusing on those details and keeping it all bottled up inside." Valerie reached out and took hold of his hand. "The best thing you can do is be open to him about your concerns. Relationships start to fall apart when one member is making wrong assumptions about the other."

"I know." Kwan groaned, banging his head back against the headrest. "I have a lot that I need to talk to him about." His gaze shifted back and forth as he stared up at the ceiling. "I'm just," he closed his eyes, "scared. I haven't liked anyone this much in a really long time. I'm scared of ruining things before they've even really started. I'm actually terrified of my own feelings." He didn't dare to look at Valerie, knowing how pathetic that confession sounded.

"Kwan, you would not be the first to be afraid of their own feelings. But if you're going to let that fear stop you from having a relationship with Dan, I'm going to have to smack you." Valerie glared at him seriously.

"Okay. Okay." Kwan chuckled. "I promise I'm going to talk to him. About everything."

"Good." Valerie smiled until she dropped her gaze to the file in her lap. "I'm almost scared to look at this." Her hands ran along the edges of the manila folder.

"It might be good to know what's in there though," Kwan offered, frowning at the file. "What if Danny's in danger?"

"That always is a possibility," Valerie mumbled as her brow creased. "I just hate idea of complying with the Guys in White in any way."

"But if it means keeping Danny, and by extension Lex, safe, isn't it worth it?"

"Lex really doesn't deserve anymore sadness in his life," Valerie agreed quietly as she opened the folder. From the troubled expression on her face, Kwan guessed it wasn't good news.


	42. Chapter 42

"So you actually told her?" Ember asked, sitting on the armrest of the couch with one leg drawn up to her chest. Her bright green eyes remained on her child, which was currently squirming around and giggling while Paulina played tickle monster.

"It was kind of hard to avoid telling her when she caught me in ghost form," Desiree replied as she leaned back against the couch. She realized now that the whole situation could have been avoided if she simply tried knocking on the door first while in her human disguise instead of sneaking into the apartment. But she was also glad to have the secret out between them. It was a relief not having to worry about lying about what she was.

"And," Ember frowned, mouth pursing as her gaze trailed over the human woman, "this guy she's been seeing works for the Guys in White?"

"If he dares to lay a finger on any of you, I'll make him regret it," Paulina said firmly, holding up a fist with determination in her emerald eyes. Hunter, clinging onto the raised arm, laughed with legs dangling and kicking.

"You'll have to forgive us if we're not quite as trusting about him as you," Skulker said, leaning against the wall near the door. His arms were folded, but he looked ready to attack if they were suddenly ambushed. Seeing him in a human disguise was rather strange, since he normally never bothered with it. His skin was nicely tanned, like he spent plenty of the time in the sun. His board shoulders and muscular frame mimicked the body shape of his ecto skeleton suit. His green eyes remained the same, and though it gained him many looks from those they passed on the street, he decided to keep the neon green Mohawk, minus the fiery appearance of course. Next to Ember, though, Skulker's disguise seemed to match with the whole rocker look.

Paulina shook her head as she lowered her arm so that Hunter could place feet on the floor again. "I understand being wary. I can't say Steven working for the Guys in White is something I like." She made a face, almost pouting at the man's profession. "But I've decided that as long as he's not going to harm any of you, I can sort of overlook that fact about him." She wiggled her finger as Hunter held onto it. "So you guys didn't say. But what gender is Hunter?" She flushed as she dropped her gaze, looking embarrassed about asking something that maybe was rude.

Ember shot an annoyed glare at Skulker before she scratched at the back of her head. "Well, we sort of argued over the whole thing," she explained, refusing to look at the woman. "Skulker wanted a son, and I wanted a daughter." She shrugged as she folded her arms over her knee. "So we decided to just let Hunter decide."

Paulina stared at the singer as he brow knitted. "You can do that? I mean," she blinked, stunned by the notion, "ghosts can pick their genders?"

"Well, not ghosts that die. But ghosts born from other ghosts can. When the Box Ghost and Lunch Lady had their daughter, they both wanted a daughter, so that's how she ended up. But since Skulker and I argued over it, Hunter was born sort of neutral." Ember's mouth pursed, and Desiree knew she was probably thinking about how crazy that sounded. "Once old enough, Hunter will eventually choose one gender over the other and start to develop an appearance to match that choice. I'm still holding out for a daughter." She smirked over at Skulker, like she already won that battle.

"Don't count on it. Hunter's totally going to choose to be male." Skulker snorted at her.

"I can't believe you two are a couple." Paulina shook her head with disbelief in her eyes.

Since they arrived at the woman's apartment, Ember and Skulker couldn't stop throwing little digs at each other or butting heads. Sometimes Desiree even had a difficult time believing that they were really a couple, but they didn't argue all the time. They had moments, like when they were both caring for Hunter, when Desiree could see how much they really cared for each other.

"We get that a lot." Skulker shrugged. Even though they were together for years, decades, they still received those shocked looks from other ghosts that couldn't imagine them actually liking each other. "We might argue a lot, but we don't always mean it."

"Sometimes." Ember narrowed her eyes at him. "Sometimes our fights are real. But that's usual for everyone. No one has a perfect relationship where everything is all happy all the time and there's never any head butting over anything. Just with our personalities, things can get a lot more extreme than with other couples. Besides, it keeps things interesting when you have all eternity together."

Paulina still looked like she could hardly believe that the two of them were a couple. "So ghosts can have babies, and their babies can decide their genders? That's - I never would have imagined it."

"It's not something that we go around telling humans a lot," Skulker said as his mouth pulled thin. "And you better not breathe a word about it to that Guys in White agent. We're only trusting you with this information because Desiree says you're all right." He glared grumpily at her, and Desiree held back a laugh when she imagined that expression on his natural form. The grumpy look on his frog like body would come off more as cute than intimidating, which would probably frustrate the hunter beyond all reason.

"I won't tell him if you want me to keep it quiet. I do get it." Paulina glared right back at him. "Any information about ghosts could be dangerous in the hands of the Guys in White. They don't differentiate between good ghosts and bad ghosts. To them, all ghosts are evil and need to be eradicated. Their single mindedness is really stupid, if you ask me. Ghosts are just like humans in that respect. Some are evil. Some are good. And it's not something that's set in stone either. Good can turn evil, and evil can become good."

"I like her," Ember said as she nodded firmly. "She's got a good head on her shoulders."

"I'm so glad you approve," Desiree said with an amused smile, but she was truly glad that Ember liked Paulina.

"So," Paulina said slowly, tilting her head to one side as she pondered over something, "you used to date Dan?" She eyed Desiree with a frown.

"You told her about _that_?" Ember's eyes grew wide as she snapped her gaze toward the wish granting ghost.

"It may have come up." Desiree shrugged, shrinking down on the couch.

"Did Dan know about you?" Paulina frowned as she picked Hunter up and placed the toddler in her lap. Hunter seemed fascinated by her silky long ebony locks and kept grabbing at the woman's hair.

Desiree nodded, not seeing any point in not being honest about it. "Yeah, Dan knew from the beginning that I was a ghost."

"And he was perfectly fine with dating a ghost?"

"Wait. She doesn't know about Dan?" Ember blinked in surprise, and Desiree snapped a glare at her, wishing sometimes that the singer would think before blurting something out like that, though she guessed she wasn't exactly innocent in that department either.

" _What_ don't I know about Dan?" Paulina narrowed her eyes in a glare that said she wouldn't allow the question to be brushed off and go unanswered.

Desiree sighed as she reached up and pushed a lock of ebony hair back behind an ear. She really didn't have a way out of answering that question without completely lying to Paulina, and she promised no more lies. "Dan is, well-" She folded her arms as her mouth pursed. She really shouldn't be revealing another ghost's identity, but Ember already opened the bag to release that cat in this situation. "Dan's a ghost too."

Paulina's mouth hung open as her arms fell slack at her sides and her eyes gazed, almost unseeingly, in Desiree's direction. As the silence stretched on, Desiree started to worry that the truth broke the woman's brain. Hunter reached up, trying to clap hands against Paulina's cheeks, like trying to wake the woman out of her shock.

"Wait!" Paulina jerked out of her daze suddenly. "If Dan's a ghost - And I'm going to put that aside for now because that's really more of Kwan's issue to deal with, and as long as Dan's treating him right and he's happy, I'm just going to ignore that he's a ghost - But Dan is Danny's cousin." She stared, seeming to have trouble wrapping her mind around the idea. "How is he Danny's cousin if he's a ghost?"

"Danny's not allowed to have a cousin that died?" Skulker questioned with a snort.

"Oh." Paulina lowered her gaze. "I guess that's always a possibility." But she seemed to be mulling the information over in her head as Hunter twisted around in her lap and settled back against her, letting green eyes slip shut. "But it's still kind of odd." She stared ponderously around at the three adult ghosts in her apartment. "How did all of you even meet Danny? And just how many ghosts does he even know?"

Ember looked away as she tugged at an ear. "Well, I ran into Danny during that whole concert fiasco I held in Amity Park. He kind of ruined my whole plan of gaining more power by getting the entire human population to chant my name."

That explanation seemed harmless enough to keep Paulina from guessing the truth about Danny. "I was trapped in a bottle," Desiree explained, shuddering as she recalled her time stuck inside it, "and when I finally got free, I went around granting wishes to gain power. But Danny foiled my attempts."

"Trapped in a bottle? How does a ghost get trapped inside a bottle?" Paulina's brow creased as she tried to puzzle out that little mystery. "Shouldn't you have been able to just phase out of it? Was it made of some special material that dampens a ghost's abilities or something?"

Desiree shook her head. "It was just your average run of the mill glass bottle." She folded her arms, almost pouting at the memory of how she got stuck inside it. "I grant wishes. That's my main power as a ghost, though I can do the basic things as well. You know, flying, intangibility, invisibility." She shrugged since that was stuff every ghost could do, even the weakest ones. "Then one human that wanted to stop me got this great idea." She rolled her eyes upward for a moment, mouth pressing into a thin line in frustration. "When he confronted me, he wished for me to enter the bottle and remain there." She scowled before a smirk slipped onto her face. "But he forgot to wish for the bottle to be indestructible. So when I arrived in Amity Park, some klutz knocked the bottle over, breaking it and releasing me."

Paulina nodded after hearing the story. "Well, I'm glad that person broke the bottle." She smiled at Desiree then turned her gaze onto the silent hunter. "And how did you meet Danny?"

Desiree felt a wash of worry run over her. How was Skulker going to explain his first meeting with Danny without exposing the half ghost's secret?

"I was hired by someone," Skulker started, ignoring the looks from the two female ghosts, "to test the skills of Jack Fenton, but it was Danny that I ran into and he bested me, destroying my ecto skeleton before he kicked me back into the Ghost Zone." He glowered, looking rather bitter over the memory, but over the years, he grew to respect Danny. Though he still attacked Danny from time to time, it was more in the manner of a training exercise for them both. If he ever did manage to capture Danny, Desiree doubted that Skulker would go through with his initial threat of mounting the half ghost upon his wall.

"Hired?" Paulina lifted one perfect eyebrow. "What did he pay with you? And why did he want to test Danny's father's skills?"

Skulker shrugged. "I don't really bother questioning that sort of thing." That was in part true, but Skulker, like many others in the Ghost Zone, didn't need to ask to know what Vlad originally had planned for Jack Fenton. "He provided me with technology that I could use to upgrade me ecto skeleton."

Paulina gave him a stare that suggested she didn't quite believe he was oblivious to what his employer wanted. "Is he still trying to do something to Danny's father? And why does a ghost even need an ecto skeleton?"

Desiree bit back a chuckle, but Ember laughed out right, which succeeded in producing a light blush from the hunter.

Skulker coughed uncomfortably. "That's not important. And as for my employer, no, he's not. He has long since given up on that endeavor."

"If he was still trying to hurt Danny's father, we," Paulina glared as she waved a finger between her and Skulker, "were going to need to have words."

"I'm liking this girl more and more." Ember nudged at Desiree with her foot as she smiled. "Any girl that isn't afraid to make a threat against Skulker is A plus in my books."

Paulina flushed at that comment. "Um," she mumbled, seeming lost for a moment as she tried to regain her train of thought. "Is Danny really that good at fighting against ghosts?" She glanced at the three of them. "I mean, when you did your concert," she nodded toward Ember, "that was freshmen year, and we were only fourteen. I don't mean to be mean about it, but there's a reason Danny's parents were a bit of a laughing stock in Amity Park. They weren't exactly seen as very competent ghost hunters by the rest of the town. Danny really stepped up that one time our parents got taken by ghosts."

"Sorry about that." Ember winced.

"Oh yeah," Paulina waved a finger at the singer, "you were there. Wow, I kind of forgot about that!" She laughed awkwardly. "But Danny was pretty good at leading us and fighting that time. Until he randomly disappeared right around when Phantom turned up."

Desiree swallowed thickly, hoping the woman wouldn't put those pieces together. "Danny is surprisingly good when it comes to fighting ghosts. Once he figured out our weaknesses, he knew how best to defeat us."

Paulina nodded, but her mind seemed to be elsewhere at the moment, making Desiree nervous. "I never really thought about it much back then, but," her mouth pursed to one side in thought, "Danny always disappeared whenever Phantom showed up." Her eyes narrowed as she glared around at the ghosts. "It's a little suspicious. I know people always ran away when ghosts attacked. But he literally vanished!"

"He probably just sneaked off to grab his ghost hunting equipment," Ember suggested.

"Then how come no one ever saw him fighting a ghost except during those odd times when Phantom wasn't there?"

"Well, Hunter sure looks tired!" Ember climbed off the armrest. "We should probably get home and put Hunter to bed." She walked over and picked Hunter up, cradling the toddler against her chest. "We'll see you again sometime." She and Skulker walked toward the door of the apartment. After waving to the two women, the family of three left.

"Okay. That was highly suspicious." Paulina narrowed her eyes as she eyed the ghost still sitting on her couch. "You might as well just tell me whatever it is because I'm just going to pester you until you do." She folded her arms with a stubborn look in her emerald eyes.

"Danny is so killing me a second time for this." Desiree rubbed at her temple, feeling suddenly drained. "Danny disappeared during the ghost attacks because he _is_ Phantom."

"What?" Paulina asked numbly as she stared with slightly wide eyes. For a moment, Desiree actually thought the woman was taking the news rather well. Then Paulina's eyes rolled back, and her body pitched backward as she fainted to the floor. Desiree sighed, thinking that could have gone a lot better. But it could have gone far worse too. Getting up from the couch, Desiree picked the woman up then carried her into the bedroom to lay her down on the bed so that she would be comfortable until she woke.


	43. Chapter 43

Dash woke shivering despite being bundled up under the covers on his bed. Forcing his eyes open, he stared blearily about his room, but his sleepy mind refused to make the connection right away as flakes of white drifted past his eyes. Shooting up in his bed, he rubbed at his eyes then stared at the snow lazily floating through the air and melting away before reaching the floor. With a sigh, he resisted the urge to go yell at Fenton. The man's powers had acted up ever since he got the ghost bug, and he could hardly help the fact that every time he sneezed, it caused some kind of freezing effect, even if it caused Dash some major frustration.

Climbing out of bed, he left his bedroom and walked down the hall to his son's bedroom. When he cracked the door open, Dash smirked, not surprised to find Xander already awake. His son was standing atop his bed with his head tilted back and his tongue sticking out as he tried to catch the snowflakes on his tongue. It only took a minute before Xander noticed his father leaning against the doorframe.

"Daddy, look! Snow!" Xander grinned widely as he pointed at the flakes falling in his room.

"I see that." With a chuckle, Dash walked over and picked up his son. He lifted Xander up into the air, gaining a giggle from the boy before setting him down on the floor. "But that doesn't mean you're going to get to skip school. So get dressed while I fix breakfast. Kwan should be here soon to pick you up."

"Aw!" Xander pouted at his father. "Lex isn't going to come today?"

"I think it's probably wise to keep him home one more day." Dash gazed at the snow. Even if their throats were feeling better today, they were clearly still suffering from some side effects of the ghost bug. "Come on. Time to get dressed." He nudged Xander over to his dresser so that the boy could pick out what clothes he wanted to wear.

Dash left the decision to his son as he walked out of the room and headed to the kitchen. If Xander didn't come downstairs within ten minutes, Dash would have to check on him to make sure his son didn't get caught up playing with the snow. Half a smile stretched across his face as he grabbed the eggs from the refrigerator. A part of him inside was freaking out that it was snowing _in the house_. Another part was still running around screaming over the fact that Fenton was his hero back when he was a teenager. If he was being truly honest with himself, Phantom remained his hero to this day, but it seemed rather embarrassing to confess that he was still such a huge fan out loud.

Dash finished cooking the scrambled eggs, with extra cheese by the time his son came trotting into the kitchen. Xander wore a white jersey with a red four on it. Though his son hadn't shown interest in playing sports until Lex turned up, he liked wearing the jersey with his father's old Casper High football number on it, which made Dash feel probably a little too proud. After serving up the eggs on two plates, he carried them, and forks, into the dining room where Xander climbed onto his usual chair.

"Xander, I know it's very exciting to wake up to snow in your bedroom, but you can't go babbling about that to anyone." Dash gave his son a very stern look as Xander shoveled a forkful of eggs into his mouth. "It's very important that no one else knows about Lex and his father."

"I know!" Xander sighed dramatically, like he was sick of being told the same thing over and over again. "I'm not going to tell. I promised. And," he frowned, poking at his eggs with his fork, "I don't want Lex to hate me."

"Lex isn't going to hate you," Dash assured his son. "And we're only reminding you about this because it's important that you don't let anything slip out. Here at home, when it's just us, it's okay. But when you're out of the house and around other people, you have to be quiet about it. No matter how tempting it is to tell someone that Lex and his father have these powers."

"I get it." Xander pouted as the front door opened.

"Hey," Kwan greeted, coming to join them in the dining room. "How's my favorite little guy today?" He wrapped his arms around Xander from behind and gave the boy a tickle at his sides. Xander laughed and squirmed until Kwan released him and dropped into a free chair at the table. "I'm guessing Danny and Lex are still under the weather." He glanced back toward the front of the house. "I saw some snow falling on the stairs."

"Yeah, seems they're not quite well enough for Lex to return to school." Dash ate some of his eggs as he eyed his friend. "Everything all right, man?" He frowned at that nervous fumbling of Kwan's hands and rapid bouncing of his right leg.

Kwan turned his head with an uncertain look in his aqua green eyes. "I plan on telling Dan about what happened in college, and I'm kind of nervous about it."

"Seriously?" Dash's eyebrows lifted in shock. "I mean, if you're sure about it," he shrugged awkwardly, "then I'm all for supporting your decision."

Kwan frowned as he tugged at one ear. "I don't think things will go anywhere between us if I keep running away from it. And I've been keeping it in all these years. It might be good for me to finally get it out."

"That's good," Dash said with a nod, happy to see his friend finally moving on from that incident. "And I really hope things work out between you two." Especially if Kwan was going to open up about that to someone, Dash would hate to then see the relationship fall apart.

Kwan gave a strained smile. "I hope so too. I'm a bit anxious about the whole thing. But," he took a deep breath and seemed a minute amount calmer, "I just have put it aside for now. I need to focus on my job so that I don't space out anymore."

"Spacey Kwan," Xander said, grinning at his teacher with his fork caught between his lips.

"You thought that was funny, huh?" Kwan grinned as he reached over and gave the boy a little tickle. "Well, Xan, we should probably get going." He stood up as Xander pouted about having to go to school while leaving his friend at home again. Dash followed them to the front door to see them out, but before they left, Kwan turned back to his friend with worry in his eyes. "Stay close to them," he warned while Xander hopped about the walkway down to the car. "Valerie wouldn't tell me anything, but it seems like something's happening. I know you've grown close to them so just," he rubbed awkwardly at the back of his neck, "keep them safe."

"Of course," Dash responded numbly as he blinked. Watching the pair head to the car, he scratched at the back of his head and frowned. The whole cryptic warning didn't sit well with him. Since they met at his office, Dash hadn't seen any evidence of Fenton having to fight against any dangerous ghosts, but that didn't mean that Fenton was idle that whole time. He likely still had a large number of ghostly foes that sought to take him out for good. That thought actually left an icy cold feeling inside him as he imagined a ghost killing Fenton. He didn't like it. He _really_ didn't like it. His throat felt too dry, and his chest felt so tight that breathing hurt. Whatever was coming, he would do whatever he could to keep Fenton safe.

Dash frowned as he stared down at his hands. In this situation though, he felt powerless to do anything helpful. He didn't have ghost powers or some kind of ghost hunting equipment to help him fight against a ghostly threat. His hands closed into fists. Even so, he would find a way to make himself useful.

Closing the front door, he returned to the dining room and picked up the plates and forks, carrying them to the kitchen. He washed up the dirty dishes, and once that was done, he headed upstairs, and much to his relief, the snow had stopped. Entering his bedroom, he pulled off his shirt and tossed it into the laundry basket, but on the way to the closet, he stopped in front of the mirror over his dresser. He frowned as he ran a hand over his chin, feeling the stubble there. Deciding he should probably shave, he left his bedroom and headed into the bathroom.

Dash rubbed the lather of shaving cream over his face. After wiping his hands clean, he turned on the water before he leaned over the sink. Carefully, he dragged his razor over his flesh then held the blade under the water to rinse off the shaving cream. When he heard the sneeze outside, he didn't think much of it until he tried to raise his razor for another swipe and found it stuck. Blinking in surprise, he dropped his gaze to the frozen fall of water from the faucet with his razor encased in the ice. He growled lowly in frustration as he shut off the water. Stomping over toward the door, he threw it open as he prepared to shout at the man. But his words died in his throat when he glanced down to find Fenton halfway through the floor.

"Still don't have those under control yet, huh?" Dash joked teasingly as he bent down and grabbed the man under the arms.

"I'm feeling a lot better though," Fenton argued grumpily, allowing the doctor to help pull him free from the floor. "My throat hardly hurts." He stumbled into Dash after getting back on his feet. "Uh, sorry." He looked away, flushing as he backed up a step. "I think Lex and I should be well enough to go home. Though I'll probably keep Lex home another day from school."

Dash fought off his own blush, not able to look at the other man after that accidental contact. But Kwan's words pushed to the front of his mind, and he frowned as he glanced sidelong at Fenton. "You're already here." He shrugged awkwardly. "And Xander would probably enjoy having Lex stay for another night. You did promise to read the bedtime story when your throat got better too." He smirked at the man, but he was worried. Really, really worried. Knowing now about Fenton being Phantom, Dash realized there was a whole other side of the man that he really didn't know.

"Bathroom! Bathroom!" Lex cried as he darted past the men and into the bathroom, slamming the door shut.

Fenton laughed. "Well, I guess one more day wouldn't hurt." He glanced at Dash and bit his lip. "One moment." He phased through the closed door. Then a moment later, he returned and held out a towel for the blond man. "Uh, sorry about the razor. That should, um, thaw out before night." He winced.

Sighing, Dash shook his head as he accepted the towel. "I guess I can skip shaving since I don't need to go into the office today." He used the towel to wipe the shaving cream clean from his face.

Fenton's brow furrowed as he seemed to realize something. "Was it really okay for you not to go into work these past few days?"

"It's fine." Dash headed toward his bedroom to grab a shirt to wear. "I had all the checkup appointments either rescheduled or sent to another pediatrician for the time being. And if an emergency came up, they would have called me." He yanked on a clean dark blue shirt, and when he turned back to the door, he found Fenton staring off to the side with rosy cheeks. "So breakfast?" he suggested as he passed by the man on the way out of his bedroom.

"Uh, yeah, breakfast." Fenton followed him toward the stairs as Lex came out of the bathroom. "Did you wash your hands?" He placed his hands on his hips and gave his son a stern stare.

"Yup! All clean!" Lex held up his hands.

"How does your throat feel?"

"Not as sore."

Dash smiled, glad that the pair were feeling much better. When he reached the bottom of the stairs, he headed into the kitchen again where he got out the eggs to make another batch of scrambled eggs, but as he was stirring them up in a bowl something occurred to him. His hand stopped its movement as he stared at the gooey yellow mixture. Last night, he got so caught up with his speech about Fenton needing to take better care of himself that he ignored the fact that he didn't get any answers to his questions.

"Do you want milk or orange juice with your breakfast?" Fenton asked as he entered the kitchen.

"Orange juice," Lex replied promptly.

"Okay. You go wait at the table." Fenton opened the refrigerator and grabbed the carton of orange juice. "Hey. Is everything okay?" He gave the doctor a nudge with his elbow as he reached up to get a glass from the cupboard.

"You didn't answer how you got your powers," Dash mumbled, tearing his gaze away from the eggs to stare at Fenton. "Half ghost kind of implies half dead." He felt numb as that thought wiggled into his brain, and he was almost certain he didn't really want the answer.

"I guess that's one way of putting it." Fenton dropped his gaze to the glass. "My parents were always pretty crazy with their inventions, and they had this idea since college about creating a portal into the Ghost Zone. But," he tilted his head as he frowned, "it didn't work when they tried to start it. Sam was always pretty interested in that kind of stuff, and I guess I always kind of wondered about it too. So when she suggested I take a look inside it, I didn't really put up much of an argument. I must have accidentally hit the on switch because the next thing I know, I feel like my body is on fire and turning to ice at the same time. I really thought I was going to die. You can't possibly imagine how much it hurts to be electrocuted like that." Fenton shook his head, and Dash really couldn't even begin to think of what that experience must have been like for the man. "I really don't know how I even survived that, but I did and I discovered I had these ghost powers. It was really scary at first, especially when I couldn't control it. But then I realized I could use my powers to protect the town from ghosts, and it wasn't as scary then."

"God, Fenton." Dash shook his head, disbelief in his blue eyes. "I can't even - You've experienced so much crazy stuff. I-" He gawked at the man, struggling to even think of any words to say. "I can't believe you've come through all that. I mean, plenty of other people would have broken after some of the things you've gone through."

"It hasn't been easy," Fenton agreed with a grim frown. "Especially after Sam-" He clamped his eyes shut and fell silent for a moment. "There were so many times over the past, nearly four years now, that I just wanted to give up because it felt too hard to continue on without her. But," he turn his head, gazing through the doorway toward the dining room, "I have Lex to keep me going. I can't let myself break. For him."

"He's not the only one that will hurt if you broke," Dash said, staring intently at Fenton, who blinked back at him in surprise. "And I'm not just talking about Phantom."


	44. Chapter 44

Danny was still trying to make sense of Dash's earlier comment as he sat cross legged on the couch with a notepad resting on one leg. After Danny didn't freeze anything for nearly an hour, Dash decided it would be all right to allow him to jot down notes for his writing on a notepad. Danny managed to get a few ideas written down before his mind inevitably drifted back to that morning and Dash saying that Lex wouldn't be the only one hurting if Danny broke. A strange feeling bubbled up inside him as the added part of the comment played in his head: "And I'm not just talking about Phantom." Danny shifted awkwardly, wondering why Dash would make that sort of comment. His gaze drifted toward the coffee table where Dash and Lex sat across from each other. Their little game of tic-tac-toe had turned into another glaring contest after Lex made the first move of placing an X in the center square. Danny almost wanted to laugh at the intensity on their faces as blue eyes glared into each other, but he sighed instead, wondering if the two would always act that way around the other.

"You two have to stop with the glaring," Danny said tiredly. When his gaze met with Dash's eyes for a brief second, he quickly snapped his head away as a blush threatened to spread over his cheeks. The memory of that morning kept dancing in his brain, and every time he met gazes with Dash, he was reminded of the embarrassment of nearly running his face right into the man's naked chest after he was pulled free from the floor. He could tell, even while the doctor was fully clothed, that Dash kept in the same great shape he did in high school while playing football. He didn't expect to get such an up close look of just how in shape the man was. And he really wished the image would stop popping up in his head because it was making him feel a little too flustered. Dan's voice whispering in his head wasn't helping things either. If Dan was attracted to men and Vlad was straight, did that mean he could also be attracted to men? Danny felt a strong urge to start banging his head against the wall. That kind of thinking was not helping him be productive!

"He started it," Dash said as he finally picked up his pencil to draw a circle in one of the corner squares.

"Really, Dash?" Danny lifted an eyebrow at him in disbelief. "What are you, five?"

Lex grinned at the question. "He called you younger than me."

"You, my big guy," Danny said, tossing aside the notepad as he slipped off the couch, "should know better." He started tickling his son, who squirmed and protested as he tried to place an X in another square. "And I thought you were starting to like Dash." He pulled his son into his lap, watching as Dash made his next move.

"He's okay," Lex answered, frowning as he tilted his head back to stare up at his father. "For a doctor."

"He really doesn't like doctors, huh?" Dash glanced curiously up at Danny.

"Because of needles," Danny answered, which immediately made Lex slap hands over his ears as he whined. "Sorry. Sorry." Danny winced. "He doesn't even like hearing that word." He hugged his arms around his son. "But I think there's some anger at doctors because of Sam." He frowned, lowering his eyes as he rest his chin atop Lex's head. "There wasn't anything doctors could have done though. She was dead before the ambulance could even show up."

"I - Sorry. I shouldn't have asked."

Danny shook his head. "No, it's good. It's helping. It still hurts to think about it. But," he frowned as he glanced over at Dash, "not as much."

"It's okay for the pain to lessen. You shouldn't feel guilty about moving on from what happened. I don't know Manson all that well, but," Dash placed a circle in a side square then drew a line through his three in a row, "I don't think she would want you to forever be reliving the pain of losing her."

"How did you win?" Lex complained, pouting at the paper on the table.

"I'm a master at tic-tac-toe," Dash responded with a grin. His expression fell into a curiosity when the doorbell rang. With a sigh, he climbed to his feet and walked toward the front door.

"Do you want to play?" Lex asked, looking up at his father.

"I never really liked tic-tac-toe," Danny admitted, but he reached around his son and drew up a quick board for them to play. "Maybe I should see if there's some sort of homework you can work on."

"No!" Lex protested as he started the game with the obvious X in the center square. "I'm sick." He pretended to sneeze, but his hair failed to change color like all the prior times. "I can't do work."

"Oh, well, if you're sick." Danny grinned as he drew a circle in one of the squares.

"I thought you had a shoot today," Dash said, returning to the front room with Paulina following after him.

"I decided to take a day off." Paulina turned her head and immediately her emerald eyes fell upon Danny. "You're here!" She gaped at him, mouth slightly opened while eyes stared widely. "And Lex." Her brow pinched as she turned back to Dash. "Why are they here? Shouldn't Lex be in school?"

"Well, they had a bit of a sore throat the past few days," Dash explained as he rubbed at the back of his neck. "Ah, but you don't need to worry about catching anything. They're practically back to good health. Just a bit of sneezing left."

"Oh." Paulina nodded, though oddly she didn't look all that worried about catching any kind of illness. "Well, this turns out well then." She set her purse down on the coffee table and took a seat near Danny, who glanced between the two former A lists with curiosity. "I was hoping to speak with you."

"Him?" Dash sat down across from them, looking rather baffled by that statement.

"Me?" Danny blinked in surprise. "Is this about Jazz and Tucker's wedding? Because I can always pass their numbers on to you if there was wedding stuff to discuss."

Paulina shook her head, wearing an amused smile that made Danny feel a little nervous. "I already have their numbers. And Jazz seems to have liked the dress I designed."

"Oh? I'm glad." Danny smiled.

"You can't imagine how nervous I was about that. But-" Paulina glanced over at her friend. "Hey. Why don't you get us something to drink? I'm absolutely parched." She pouted and rubbed at her throat like the dryness hurt.

Dash frowned but nodded. "Sure. Is tea all right? You," he landed a stern look on Danny, "should probably have some too. I know your throat has been feeling a lot better today, but you should still drink something soothing." He got up and left the room, missing Danny rolling his eyes.

"Always in doctor mode, isn't he?" Paulina laughed, but there was a nervous gleam in her emerald eyes. "Actually, what I wanted to talk with you about, um," she bit her lip as she brushed a lock of ebony hair behind one ear, "has something to do with what Desiree told me."

The nervousness increased as Danny watched every movement of the woman, like somehow everything would be revealed to him in some tick or twitch. "Desiree?" He swallowed thickly, mind wheeling as he wondered what Desiree told the woman.

"Yeah." Paulina wore a shy look, glancing quickly toward the doorway like she feared Dash would come back into the room a moment too soon. Then she leaned closer, and that nearness didn't make Danny feel any more comfortable. "About Phantom." A suggestive gleam entered her eyes.

"She told you?" Danny groaned, feeling that urge to bang his head against something again.

"Weren't you going to tell her?" Lex questioned as he tugged at his father's shirt.

"Wait. You were?" Paulina sat back, gaping in shock.

"Well," Danny scratched at his head as he looked away, "yeah. I already told Kwan because of Dan, and it was pretty hard to keep Dash out of the loop after getting the ghost bug made our powers act up. I figured telling you would at least let Dash and Kwan avoid having to lie to you to keep it secret. But I'm still going to have to yell at Desiree for spilling the beans."

"In her defense, I would have kept pestering her until she gave me an answer. And I was getting close to figuring it out anyway. I mean, Desiree, Ember, and Skulker, all defeated by you yet no one ever saw Danny Fenton around fighting them?" Paulina tapped at the side of her head. "That really got me thinking, especially with the way you always disappeared the moment Phantom showed up."

Danny sighed tiredly. "Yeah, I'm surprised sometimes that more people never connected the dots."

"Here's your tea." Dash set the mugs down on the table and shot a look at Danny. "Don't sneeze."

Danny mocked laughed as he made a face at Dash. "I already apologized about freezing your razor this morning." He picked up the mug and took a sip. The hot liquid did feel good on his throat.

"And I'm guessing the cat's out of the bag then?" Dash glanced between the two adults.

"Yeah, Paulina's already in the know."

"Did Dash go completely fanboy over you when you told him?" Paulina grinned teasingly at her friend.

"Please." Dash scowled at her. "You're the one that had a shrine to Phantom in your locker."

Paulina sighed wistfully. "And to think, I could have dated the famous Phantom if I had only given you a chance when you asked me out all those times."

"I really hope you both don't still keep shrines," Danny said, laughing awkwardly.

"No." Paulina shook her head. "I like to think I've grown past that crush stage. Though," she laughed, "it is kind of overwhelming to sit here and realize you are the Danny Phantom."

"Speaking of which," Dash leaned on the table, "did you really think that change in Phantom's appearance was going to fool us?"

"You should have seen him when Aunt Ember dyed his hair green." Lex tried to hide a laugh behind his hands. "It looked funny."

"Man, I wish-"

"No!" Danny and Lex shouted together, and Dash blinked in surprise. "Sorry. Desiree likes to be sneaky when it comes to granting wishes. Well," Danny tilted his head, "she doesn't go around actively looking for people to grants wishes for anymore, but if she overhears a wish, it's like a natural reaction to simply," he snapped his fingers, "grant it. As for the costume change, well, I could hope, couldn't I? I figured you'd connect the dots a lot faster if you spotted Phantom around town right after I moved here."

"Yeah, that would have been pretty suspicious," Dash agreed.

"Hold the phone!" Paulina slapped a hand down on the table, drawing everyone's attention to her.

"But no one has a phone," Lex said in confusion.

"Desiree grants wishes," Paulina said slowly as she stared in shock at Danny. "I mean," she jerked, shaking her head, "I know she mentioned it last night when they were all talking about how they first met you. But that didn't really hit me until now."

"Yeah, she-" Danny paled, blue eyes growing wide. "You didn't! You made a wish in front of her?"

Paulina nodded as her shoulders slumped, and she frowned sadly at the table. "I wished that I would meet a nice guy like you." Her emerald eyes darted nervously toward Danny. "I've had such a bad run of boyfriends, and then I met up with you again, and you're such a nice guy." She sighed, sadness written over every inch of her. "I just wanted someone that would be nice and wouldn't turn out to be some sort of jerk after we started dating."

"Wait. You met someone?" Dash stared with his mouth hanging open. "And you didn't say anything to me?"

"I was scared. Things were going so well between us. I kept fearing that something bad was about to happen at any moment." Paulina drew up her legs and hugged them to her chest.

Danny couldn't believe that the woman had trouble finding a good boyfriend when she was beautiful, and he was coming to find that she was actually pretty nice. But maybe he was blinded by thoughts that the A list always had it easy. Being beautiful didn't guarantee happiness.

"And now with the wish thing," Paulina continued, seeming to grow more miserable by the minute. "If he only met me because of a wish, are any of his feelings for me real?"

"Your wish was just to meet someone like me, right?" Danny felt a pang in his chest as he stared at Paulina. Wishes, as he came to learn from experience, usually came with a cost or some twist. He hated to think that Paulina would be hurt by the wish.

"Yeah." Paulina stared at him with anticipation, like she was hoping for some magic answer.

"Then," Danny scratched at his head in thought, "well, the wish only made it so that you would meet. Anything after that is probably real. You didn't wish for him to magically fall in love with you the moment you met. And you're both still getting to know each other, right? That sounds like a natural development to me. Desiree only made it so that you two would meet sooner rather than later."

Paulina frowned as she took in what he said. "I guess that makes sense." But doubt still flashed through her eyes.

"Just don't write him off too soon just because of a wish," Danny suggested.

"I want to meet this guy," Dash said, giving Paulina a stern stare as he folded his arms. "I want to make sure he's not a jerk like Tyler."

"He's actually a pretty sweet guy." Paulina flushed, looking away in embarrassment. "We went to the art museum, and he didn't laugh or make me feel stupid for not knowing a lot about that kind of stuff. He actually takes an interest in my designing. It's nice. I haven't had a relationship where the guy hasn't been some self-absorbed needy jerk."

"So it might be good to just let things continue," Dash said, allowing half a smile to slip across his face. "Maybe he really is the one for you."

"But," Lex mumbled, shifting awkwardly. "But you said like Dad." He frowned as his brow pinched. "Does that mean he's like us?" He lifted his head to stare at his father.

"I doubt it." Danny laughed as he brushed back his son's blond bangs. "I think it only applied to the nice part."

"Well," Paulina said as she pulled at her ear, "Steven's like you in another way now that I think about it."

"Steven?" Danny frowned at hearing that name.

"Yeah, Steven's the guy I met after making the wish. And like you, he kind of his a secret life."

"I don't know if I like the sound of that." Dash frowned.

"He wouldn't be Steven Beland, would he?" Danny really hoped that Paulina would say it was a different Steven.

"Yeah. Do you know him?" Paulina blinked in surprise.

"I think I need to make a phone call." Danny lifted Lex out of his lap then climbed to his feet.

"Is anything wrong?" Dash watched him with worry in his eyes.

"It's fine. I just remembered there's something I need to discuss with someone." Danny forced a smile to his face as he left the room.

"So, Lex, do you play with little Hunter?" Paulina asked.

"Who's Hunter?" Dash questioned at the same time that Lex said, "Sometimes."

"Ember's child," Paulina answered, and Danny could imagine the sneaky smirk on her face.

"What?" Dash shouted in shock.

Danny smiled a little at that response. When he reached the kitchen, he stepped outside to make his phone call. He punched the number in quickly then held the phone to his ear. "You better have a good explanation for this."

"Danny," greeted the man on the other end with a nervous laugh. "Long time, no chat. How have you been?"

"Darren, don't play dumb," Danny growled, squeezing his hand around the phone. "I know Steven's here. And if he's here, you're here too. Now explain. Why did you follow me here?"

Darren sighed. "Protection detail."

"I've told you before that I don't need protection." Danny narrowed his eyes as he began to pace. "Why exactly are you suddenly on protection detail? As I recall, you were last in New Orleans investigating the latest rumors of ghosts there."

"Perhaps we should meet to discuss this."

The color drained from his face because Danny could think of only one reason why an agent of the Guys in White would need to discuss anything with him, which perfectly explained the protection detail. "How," he growled, struggling and failing to keep the rage out of his voice, "did he escape?"


	45. Chapter 45

Kwan carried a bowl of chips in his hands as he headed for the couch to sit down and have a nice relaxing evening watching a movie. When he entered the main area of his apartment, he gave a started yelp, the bowl dropping from his hands to clatter upon the floor as chips flew out everywhere. He placed a hand to his chest, his heart pounding like a jackhammer, as he met eyes with the man that suddenly appeared in his apartment.

"Right. Sorry." Dan vanished back through the door and a moment later a knock sounded.

Kwan rubbed at his forehead, stepping over the mess of fallen chips as he headed toward the door. When he opened it, he gave the ghost an annoyed look.

"I'm used to just popping in," Dan explained, looking away and rubbing at his neck. He appeared in his human disguise, which was a relief because Kwan didn't really want to have to come up with an explanation if his neighbors started questioning the appearance of a ghost in the building. "Because with Danny, I never have to bother with knocking. It was wrong to just pop in like that. I know."

Kwan rolled his eyes as he opened the door wider for Dan to enter his apartment, not that the ghost really needed it since he could simply phase through an obstacle. "Just remember next time. You nearly gave me a heart attack." His heart still felt like it was beating a touch too fast. After Dan stepped inside, Kwan closed the door. Upon hearing the click of the lock latching, the nerves kicked in, and it was a struggle to push down that urge to avoid having this talk with the ghost.

"Your face was pretty funny." Dan grinned halfway teasingly. He walked over to the mess and crouched down to start cleaning up the chips. "I didn't mean to scare you like that. I wasn't thinking." He shook his head. "That's not really an excuse though, is it?"

Kwan walked over and helped with cleaning up the mess. "Not really, no. You have to remember that the whole ghost thing is still pretty new for me." He didn't really stop to think about how Dan being ghost meant that he could literally appear out of thin air thanks to his powers.

"I ran into Valerie and she mentioned you had things you wanted to talk with me about." Dan glanced up curiously, but there was a hint of hesitation in his eyes.

Kwan frowned as he dropped a handful of chips into the bowl. He had a lot to discuss with Dan, and it scared him, but he knew he needed to get it all out in the open if anything was going to happen between them. Running away, as much as he wanted to do at that moment, was not an option for him. Taking a deep breath, he lifted his gaze, and the words stuck in his throat. Even after making the decision to talk with Dan, it was still hard to speak.

"I-" Kwan fumbled with his thoughts. "You mentioned that in your time, I made a ghost shield."

"Yeah," Dan agreed as he eyed the man before him.

"Well," Kwan turned his gaze downward, seeming to become fascinated with the chips still on the floor. He was merely delaying the inevitable. He knew it, but he couldn't help putting it off a little longer. "If I could make one, an invisible shield, maybe that would be helpful for Lex. I mean, if it keeps ghosts from attacking the school, Lex wouldn't have to worry about his education being interrupted by ghost attacks, and I'm sure Danny would appreciate his son being protected during school hours and being able to stay focused on school. And when he comes back to school in September, he'll be in third grade, and I won't be around to watch over him. Having a shield to protect from ghost attacks will also allow him to avoid risking his secret by having to seek a safe place to transform if he decides to fight ghosts."

"And you wanted my help getting started on it?" Dan dumped the rest of the chips into the bowl.

"Yes, no, well, yeah." Kwan sighed as he leaned his head back and rolled his eyes at the ceiling. "Yes, I would like your help because I'm all over the place trying to think of how to put it all together. But that's not the reason I needed to talk to you."

"I'll give you some nudges here and there, but you're going to have to do the majority of the work yourself." Dan grinned at him as he stood with the bowl in his hands. "What did you need to talk about then?"

Kwan rolled his eyes because of course Dan wouldn't give him any direct answers about building the ghost shield. But even some small advice here and there would be helpful to get him started, and Dan could probably point things out if Kwan started going wrong with the project. "I, well-" Kwan frowned as he stared at Dan. With a sigh, he climbed to his feet and took the bowl from Dan. Entering the kitchen, he dumped the chips into the trash and placed the bowl in the sink. He was still delaying. "Well, first, I guess," he leaned on his hands, keeping his back to Dan, "I should start with something that's been on my mind since you told me about you."

"If it's about me being a ghost, we can work that out."

Kwan shook his head and forced himself to turn around to face the ghost. "That's not entirely it. Though I have to say, it's weird that I'm having feelings for a ghost." He frowned as his gaze ran over Dan's body, which was hard to pretend wasn't attractive. "But what I meant was about how you talked about the me from your time." He lowered his eyes, and that miserable feeling settled like a crushing force in his chest. "I'm not the same as him."

"Well, duh." Dan snorted at the comment. "I'm well aware of that fact."

Kwan snapped his aqua green gaze up and glowered into the dark blue of Dan's eyes. "Don't brush it off like it's nothing," he shouted. "Try to think for a moment about how that news affected me. You talk about how your time's Kwan tried so hard to reach through to you and how you used to talk to him. And if you're just pushing your feelings for him onto me because I'm the only Kwan left available, then-" His mouth worked open and close for a moment, but he couldn't think of what to say. "I don't want you to just settle on me because of him. I can't be him. And if you're expecting me to be him, this," he gestured between them, "isn't going to work out."

The earlier amusement in his eyes faded as Dan's expression turned serious. "I wasn't thinking of you as being him." He growled, raking a hand through raven locks. "Okay. Maybe initially I was comparing you to him, because he was all I really had in terms of knowing you. And yeah, I was unbelievably shocked that you didn't pursue some career involving technology and more specifically the development of ghost tech. But," he stepped toward the man and reached up to cup Kwan's face, bringing his head up so that they were staring into each other's eyes, "I know you're not him. You're a teacher, and you love kids, and you're ridiculous adorable when you're playing with them."

"I'm not adorable," Kwan muttered, feeling very uncomfortable with how close Dan was standing to him.

"You are so blind to how adorable you are." Dan smirked before dropping his hands as he stepped back give Kwan some much needed space. "Okay. So if I'm one hundred percent honest, I probably will be comparing you to my memories of the other Kwan, but that doesn't mean my feelings for you are any less. Why do you think I'm trying so hard to make things right after my earlier mistakes? Because I do like you and I want to get to know the Kwan that _you_ are. We can take this as slowly as you like."

Kwan leaned back against the counter, folding his arms in a minor show of being guarded. His mind needed to process all of what the ghost said, but he couldn't deny a warm feeling inside when Dan talked about wanting to get to know him. "Okay. Valerie was right on that point." It was like a weight lifted off him after putting his feelings about the whole other timeline version of him out in the open. "I was afraid you would be disappointed with me."

Dan snorted as he placed his hands on his hips. "I know you're not exactly like him, but it doesn't change that you have the same core points as him." He reached out and poked a finger into the man's chest. "You have a good, caring heart, and you have a brilliant mind. It might need some guidance, but that doesn't change that you have a raw natural talent with creating things with technology."

"I guess I didn't think about those points," Kwan mumbled thoughtfully. It seemed obvious when he thought about it that he would likely share many similarities with the other him. After the split in the timelines, they were bound to have experiences that altered them into different people, but they would share mostly the same base. He took a deep breath then sighed out slowly. "There was something else that I wanted to talk to you about." He shifted uncomfortably, but he knew he couldn't put it off any longer. If he didn't get himself to talk about it now, he might continue to live with it hanging over his head. "It's about the way I reacted when you kissed me that first time. You deserve an explanation, so I'm going to tell you what happened."

"No," Dan said firmly, shaking his head with his arms folded.

"Excuse me?" Kwan blinked in surprise, thrown off by that sudden refusal.

"I'm dying to know why you reacted like that, since something obviously happened." Dan ground his teeth with a furious look passing through his eyes that glowed red for a brief second. "But if you're just wanting to do the whole confession thing to somehow make us even after I told about my past, then I don't want to hear it. I want you to tell me what happened when _you're_ ready and not a moment before that."

Kwan sighed as he leaned back on his arms against the counter. If Dan expected to wait until Kwan was truly ready to talk about it, then he could be waiting a long, long time. "I didn't come to this decision because I thought it would make us even. I decided I should tell you because until I get it out in the open, things between us might not really go anywhere. As you noticed, I clearly have some issues with you invading my personal space, especially when you act too forward. I'd like for that not to be an issue anymore, but for that, I need to talk about what happened. I never even really talked with Dash and Paulina after it happened. We just kind of swept it under the rug as a topic that shouldn't be poked at too much. It's time I actually get it off my chest."

Dan eyed him for a while before he nodded. "If you're sure about it." He walked into the other room and dropped down on the couch, throwing his arms over the back of it.

Kwan wiped nervously sweaty hands on his pants before he walked over to join the ghost. "It happened back in college. I'd only turned twenty-one about two weeks beforehand, and I had a free day before the weekend, so I decided to head over to the college that Dash was attending. Our colleges were only about a seven hour drive away. I figured I could drive over there on Friday, spend Saturday chilling with him, then head back to my college Sunday morning. We had fun just relaxing in his dorm Friday night, and it felt like the old days back in high school." Kwan smiled fondly at that thought. As much as he loved hanging out with his family, it was nice having those odd Fridays when he would hang out at Dash's house. "There was this party Saturday night, and the girl that Dash was seeing at the time was very insistent that he attend it with her. I figured there wouldn't be much harm in it. It's the usual college experience to go to a party every now and then, so I assured him that would be okay. We'd spend maybe an hour or two there then head back to the dorm and hang out again."

"And I'm guessing things at the party didn't have a happy ending." Dan frowned.

Kwan glanced at him then turned his gaze away as he picked nervously at a loose thread on his jeans. "There was a guy there. I had already been questioning my sexuality for a while by that point, and Dash kept assuring me that we'd still be best friends even if I came out as gay, though now I'm pretty sure I'm bi." He swallowed thickly, staring down at a small mark on his coffee table. "I couldn't help glancing his way every now and then during the party. I didn't really have anyone to talk to since the girl dragged Dash off to show him off like a piece of arm candy. After about, like, forty-five minutes or so, the guy finally decided to come over and talk to me. We shared a drink. Things seemed okay, though he was a horrible flirt." He laughed, but it sounded strange to his ears, unnatural even. "I do mean horrible. His pickup lines were atrocious. But I ignored that because I got flustered every time he smiled at me. It was the first time since I started questioning myself that a guy was paying attention to me, so I might have let my guard down a bit around him. I don't think I drank more than half the beer, but the place was starting to feel a little too warm, and the room was kind of spinning. So I excused myself to go look from a bathroom, thinking maybe if I just splashed my face with a little water, I'd start to feel better."

Kwan halted for a moment to gather his thoughts, struggling to get the words out. "He followed me into the bathroom, and I figured he just wanted to check on me. I probably looked a mess. I told him I was probably just going to leave the party. At that point I really wasn't feeling good, and I was going to have to drive back to my college the next day. But when I tried to leave the bathroom, he blocked me, locking the door. I really didn't know what was going on at that point. I tried to push past him, and he shoved me back like I was a lightweight. And you see me." He gestured at his body, the body of a man that played linebacker for a high school football team. "I'm not exactly the kind of guy that gets pushed around that easily. We struggled for a while, but I was quickly losing the battle. He got me pinned against the wall and practically shoved his tongue down my throat. I managed to push him away and demanded to know what he thought he was doing." A bitter laugh escaped him as he scowled at the table. "He said after the way I kept eying him all night, I should feel privileged that he would even consider doing it with me. I was pretty disgusted about that. I mean, I may have thought he was attractive, but I don't go around sleeping with everyone I think is attractive, and I certainly don't sleep with someone I just met at a party. But he acted like the fact that I kept looking at him gave him all the right in the world to do whatever he wanted with me. So of course I fought him to get away. But my strength was pretty much fading at that point."

"Because he drugged you," Dan murmured, not even needing to question it.

"I was too caught up in the 'I need to get the fuck away from this asshole' thought process to really make that connection, but yeah," Kwan nodded with a grim look, "the beer he gave me was drugged with one of those date rape drugs. So after another struggle, I went down and hit my head pretty hard on the floor. My vision kind of went black there. It could have been a few seconds or a few minutes. I'm not really sure. But when everything came back in a blurry mess, I could feel his hands running over my body. One hand was down my pants, trying to work my cock into an erection. I tried to throw a punch at him, but my arms were tied behind my back. He used my own shirt to bind them." His face twisted up in disgust. "I had a terrifying moment thinking that bastard would actually get what he wanted and would rape me. I don't know how that managed to get through the fogginess of the drug, but maybe fear is able to do that." He shrugged. "So I did the only thing I could think of at that time, and I screamed as I shoved my foot into whatever part of him I could find just to get him off me. There were tons of people at the party, so it wasn't surprising that the door came crashing down moments after my scream. I'd have felt humiliated at that moment with a group of people seeing my pathetic state of undress, but at that moment, all I cared about was keeping that man from touching me again. I don't know how Dash got there so fast, but I vaguely remember him storming into the bathroom, shouting as he punched the shit out that guy."

"What happened to the bastard?"

Kwan turned his head and saw the immense fury in Dan's expression. His eyes glowed red as his hands curled into tight fists. "I think he's somewhere over in Europe. Touring probably. He was a musician in college, trying to get together a band."

"That shit got away with that?" Dan shot to his feet, looking like he was seconds away from zooming out of the apartment to hunt down the man.

"He didn't rape me," Kwan pointed out as he tugged on the ghost's arm to pull him back down onto the couch. "And anyway, I was studying to become a teacher. That was my plan at that point. Do you know how it would have looked to the parents if I had a record of accusing a man of attempted rape?" He frowned as he stared down at his hands, picking at a bit of skin around one thumbnail. "I imagine a mother like Mrs. Duvall would have saw that as an excuse to claim I wasn't fit to teach second graders, or any children at all. Even my being bi could be used as an excuse to somehow get me kicked out of the school. Like being bi makes me a pervert and I'll do perverted things to the children. Or that somehow my homosexuality would rub off on the children and make them all gay." He shook his head, feeling disgusted at the people who would think like that. "I didn't want that kind of stigma holding me back from getting a job. Anyway, Dash did a real number on him. I'm pretty sure there were several punches directed toward the groin area when Dash was beating him up."

"And you're just fine with that?" Dan stared at him with utter shock. "He tries to rape you and gets to go live it up in Europe. And that's okay with you?"

"Of course it's not fucking okay with me!" Kwan shouted, glaring darkly at Dan. "Do you really think I like the fact that the bastard got away and could try that again with someone else? I hate it! But I didn't want it to ruin my life. I can see why women don't come forward after a man drugs and rapes them. Who the hell would want it out there that they were raped, or someone even tried to rape them? And most victims usually don't have a group of people that can testify that the man did try to rape them." He sighed tiredly as he leaned back, trying to let some of the tension melt away from him. "I must seem really pathetic," he mumbled as he stared at the ceiling. "The guy didn't even rape me, but I've been running away from the memory like he did. I just-" He shook his head. "I hate how weak I felt then. I couldn't do anything to stop him. I never want to be in that position again."

"You're not pathetic. Even if he didn't succeed in the act, it's still a traumatic experience. Anyone else in your position would be feeling the same thing." Dan frowned as he took hold of Kwan's hand and squeezed it comfortingly. "I see now why you responded like that. You were just starting to realize you liked men, and this guy tries to rape you. That's enough to sour anyone's thoughts of hooking up with someone. And then, there I was, just another guy that seemed like he just wanted to use you for a quick lay. Ugh, now I feel sick with myself." He made a face of disgust. "I never meant for it to come off like that, and I really didn't want to harm you any way. I would never force you into something like that. I don't have sex with someone against their will. I might get frustrated and impatient, I won't lie there, but unless it's something you want, I won't push you into sex."

"That really does mean a lot to me." Kwan sighed, feeling some of the knots in his chest loosen now that he actually talked about what happened. When he glanced at the ghost, he frowned. "You don't think I'm damaged because of that?"

"I'm not exactly undamaged myself," Dan pointed out. "And whether you're damaged or not, I still want to get to know you better. I like you, Kwan."

After chewing on his lower lip for a moment, Kwan leaned over and placed a quick, chaste kiss upon Dan's lips. "I like you too." He turned his head away, unable to look at the ghost without his face exploding into a terrible blush.

"So," Dan said, and Kwan could practically hear the grin in his voice, "what movie were you going to watch?" The change of topics was a welcomed relief.


	46. Chapter 46

Danny frowned as he stared into the front room where Lex was showing Xander one of his video games that he brought over to his friend's house. Lex was actually letting Xander play the game, but he leaned over his friend and explained how to do stuff while Xander nodded, tongue sticking out the side of his mouth as he pressed buttons.

"Sorry." Danny winced as he turned his gaze back to Dash. "When I told him I was bringing him over here, he insisted on bringing the game to show Xander. I hope that's okay. I know some parents don't always like their children playing video games. But it's not a super violent one."

Dash shook his head. "That's fine." After watching the children for a moment, he folded his arms as he frowned at Danny. "I'm more worried about this sudden visit."

After the other day when Paulina paid a visit, Danny and Lex stayed another night. Then Lex joined Xander in going to school the next morning. Danny spent an agitated day at his house, pacing around and not getting any work done while his mind circled around the phone call to Darren, who refused to give him any answers over the phone and insisted that they meet on the weekend. Even if the man was on protection detail, it didn't mean Darren had a lot of free time to come chat with him. Danny folded his arms as his hands balled into tight fists. Darren and his men were sitting around watching him but forced him to wait until the weekend to actually meet with him face to face? Danny was frustrated about that fact.

"Care to fill me in on what's going on?" Dash's question brought Danny out of his internal rage.

"I just have something I need to take care of, and I'd rather not have Lex get caught up in it." Danny tossed another quick, worried glance at his son. "I trust you with him, so just," he stared into Dash's eyes, "take care of him."

"This has to do with something ghost related, doesn't it?"

It was weird having the man in the know now. Danny didn't really think about how Dash knowing that he was half ghost would affect things, like going out to fight ghosts. He could see the worry in the man's eyes, and that made him feel a little guilty about running off to deal with things on his own. The comment about it not being just about Phantom echoed in his mind, and Danny turned his gaze away, shifting his weight awkwardly.

"Honestly, I don't know how things are going to go with this," Danny admitted as he scratched a hand through his hair with his gaze lowered. It was merely a meeting with Darren, but he couldn't predict the events that would follow. What if he was laying in wait to attack? Right now would be a great time for Clockwork to show up and give him a warning in advance, but he knew Clockwork wouldn't do that unless it was absolutely necessary. "And that's why I'm leaving Lex with you. If things go bad-" He halted when he caught that flicker of panic in Dash's blue eyes. "Lex already has to live with the horror of seeing his mother murdered. He doesn't need to be there to witness if anything bad happens to me. I know I've grown better as a fighter over the years and my powers are stronger too, but I also know it's wise not to underestimate my opponents."

"Fenton," Dash glared, his mouth thinning, "you _don't_ have to fight on your own. You have allies that will have your back in a fight. Valerie, Elle, Dan. That Vlad, even though I think he's stuffy jerk, seems to care a lot about you. I'll fight too. Give me some of your parents' ghost weapons, and I'll kick as much ghost butt as possible. Kwan and Paulina will probably offer the same. If you think things might not go well, bring backup."

"And who's going to watch over our sons?" Danny frowned with a deadly serious expression, despite a ridiculous surge of relief - happiness? - that Dash would offer to fight with him. "We can't just leave them alone." He lowered his voice as he stepped closer to Dash. "And I am _not_ taking them into a potentially dangerous situation."

"I wasn't suggesting that you do that," Dash whispered back. His gaze drifted toward the front room where the boys were to engrossed in the video game to pay attention to the conversation taking place between the adults. "I'm not letting you do whatever it is alone."

Dash met the other man's gaze, and Danny gulped with an odd twisting sensation inside. Ever since Paulina mentioned that she was dating Steven and his phone call to Darren, Danny's brain was wrapped up in the potential upcoming fight. But standing there with mere inches between them and that look of great concern for him in Dash's eyes, Danny couldn't shake away the memories of the morning after he froze Dash's razor in the sink. A flush threatened to creep onto his face as he remembered, quite vividly, the sight of half naked Dash as the man helped pull him out of the floor when he suddenly lost control over his intangibility. The flustered feeling returned, and Danny wished that memory wouldn't pop up during a very serious conversation. Now was definitely not the time to consider Dash's well defined chest.

"We'll get Paulina," Dash said suddenly, and Danny jerked, shaking his head as he tried to catch up to what the man meant. Dash rolled his eyes at the confusion playing across the raven haired man's face. "To watch the boys. I know she'd want to help if she could in any way, but she does have her career to consider. I know she'll do well as a designer, but right now she makes her living as a model. Getting beat up in a fight against ghosts would force her to cancel work until injuries healed."

"I could never ask her to risk her job to help me like that." Danny still had trouble wrapping his mind around the fact that the A lists wanted to help him or were even treating him like a friend. He slipped into such a comfortable friendship with Dash that the weirdness of it stuck out more strongly when Dash suddenly showed such deep concern about his well being. Staring in the blond man's eyes, Danny could almost see it. It wasn't worry for Phantom that showed in Dash's eyes. It was concern for him, plain old Danny Fenton, and to that, Danny really didn't know what to say.

"Which is why she's perfect for babysitting duty." Dash smirked at his own cleverness. "She loves watching over Xander, and since she knows about you now, you don't have to worry about her freaking out if Lex accidentally uses his powers while she's watching over him. Or, you know, random ghost dog popping in to play with them."

"True," Danny agreed with a nod. It only seemed to prove that it was a good idea to have let Paulina in on the secret. He eyed Dash with some hesitancy. "I don't want you feeling pressured into helping me." The corners of his mouth tugged downward. "This is _my_ problem. And it's not something you need to get involved with just because you know my secret."

Dash grabbed hold of his biceps and gave Danny a sharp shake. "I know it's crazy to admit, but you _are_ my friend, Fenton. And that means, I'm going to be involved in your problems because I care about you."

Danny tried to ignore the little hitch in his breath at those last words. "Then why can't you call me by my first name?"

"I-" Dash blinked as he pulled back then reached up to rub awkwardly at his neck. "I guess it's just habit. I always called you Fenton in high school, and it just kind of stuck."

Danny rolled his eyes with an amused smile. "Well, you're free to call me by my first name." When a thought occurred to him, his expression fell. "I don't know Paulina's number."

Dash flicked him on the forehead with a snicker. "And you think I don't know my own friend's number?" He pulled out his cell phone and punched in Paulina's number.

Danny left that detail to Dash as he walked into the front room and joined the boys on the couch. Peeking over Xander's shoulder, he grinned as he watched the boy guide the green hat character through a cave and fighting off the bats that tried to attack. Lex made little gasps and looked like he wanted to grab the game out of Xander's hand to do it himself. But he managed to resist the urge, allowing Xander the chance to play. Danny was glad to see his son being able to share his precious video game with someone else.

"All right. Paulina's on her way over," Dash announced as he entered the room, shoving the phone back into his pocket.

"Auntie Lina is coming?" Xander tore his gaze away from the video game to blink owlishly at his father.

"Yup." Dash grinned and ruffled his son's raven hair. "Maybe the two of you can show her how to play that game." His expression suddenly turned stern. "But I don't want you spending all your time playing that. There's a lot of fun stuff to do that doesn't revolve around a video game."

"Aw," Xander pouted, "but it's really fun. Look! He has a slingshot!" He turned the game around for Dash to see the screen.

"How cool." Dash joined them, sitting on the other side of the two boys. They fell into a comfortable conversation about the game while Xander played, and even Dash seemed to get really into it, offering his own advice on how to play. When the doorbell rang, the doctor growled as he forced himself away from the game to answer it.

"So you didn't explain why the sudden need for a babysitter," Paulina said as she followed Dash into the front room. "Oh! Hi, Danny."

"Hey, Paulina." Danny got up from the couch as the boys gave a quick greeting to her before getting absorbed into the game again. "If they're still playing that in an hour, feel free to take it away from them and hide it until they've done something else for a while." The boys protested and pouted at that announcement.

Paulina chuckled at their reactions. "I'll be sure to do that." She smiled before glancing between the two men. "But seriously, what's going on?" Her brow creased with worry.

"It's probably no big deal." Danny shrugged as he and Dash headed toward the front door. "I'm just going to talk with someone, but Dash," he rolled his eyes in a teasing manner at the man, "is being a major worrier and thinks he needs to come play protector."

"I'm allowed to be worried," Dash grumbled with a grumpy frown.

"You're kind of making me worry now too," Paulina said, biting her lower lip.

"Don't be. We should be back in an hour or two." Danny waved goodbye to the boys, who managed to pull themselves away from the game long enough to say goodbye to them. After a quick farewell to Paulina, the two men exited the house and headed down the walkway to Danny's car. "Are we going to do the awkward silence thing until we get there?" Danny asked as they climbed into the car, and he glanced warily at the man beside him.

"Shouldn't we stop by your house? Grab some weapons?" Dash gave him a curious look as Danny started up the car then pulled away from the curb.

"We shouldn't need them." Danny ignored the growing confusion from the man and focused on driving. At least, he hoped they wouldn't need weapons.

The awkward silence commenced, and it only made Danny feel even more tense about the meeting. With traffic, it took longer to reach the location, which meant Danny had to sit there gripping the steering wheel with white knuckle tightness for more time than he liked. When they finally reached their destination, it actually hurt for Danny to pry his hands away from the steering wheel. He flexed his fingers at his side as they walked up the front door of the small cafe.

When they entered, Danny flashed a card at the host, and the man led them to a back room. He only recognized the man as a member of the organization by the white attire and a small silver clip on his tie with the initials GiW. The man was short but still on the side of being in decent shape. His head was shaved, which seemed to be the usual for the majority of agents that Danny met in the past. Only a few of the agents he knew decided to keep their hair. After showing them into the backroom, the man bowed and closed the door.

"I have to say, this is feeling very mafia-ish," Dash said as he gave the room a nervous look over, taking in the stone walls that were covered with notes and articles and photographs.

To Danny, it was the obvious temporary headquarter for an out of state Guys in White agent. His eyes fell upon the dark skinned man sitting at the round table in the center of the room. Unlike the man that showed them to the backroom, this man wasn't dressed in the usual white attire. Instead he adopted a civilian appearance to allow him to better blend in with the crowd, a necessary choice when he was working protection detail and needed to trail the person without standing out too much. Danny was actually surprised that the man got away with it for so long since he should have recognized the man following him. His hands tightened at his sides when he realized he grew a little too complacent with his life in a new town.

"All right, Darren," Danny said, hesitating before taking a seat at the table. "I'm here. And I want answers."

"Uh, so who exactly is this guy?" Dash whispered to Danny as he sat beside him.

"I thought you would be coming alone." Darren frowned with his brown eyes focused on the blond man.

"Whatever you have to tell me can be said in front of him. I trust him." Danny leaned back in his chair as he folded his arms. "Now tell me." He glared darkly at the man, managing to hold back enough his anger to keep his eyes from shifting to green. "How did he escape?"

"Okay. So I guess I'm not getting answers here," Dash mumbled.

"My name is Darren Margon," the man introduced for Dash's benefit. "And I'm an agent for the Guys in White."

When Dash snapped his head around, Danny kicked his leg under the table before the man could say anything. "We met after Sam was murdered," Danny explained with a slight narrowing of his eyes. "The Guys in White kept most of the details on what happened out of the public eye. We've had many," his jaw set tightly, " _talks_ since that day."

Darren sighed as he shifted through the file before him. "You know I'm not very high up in the organization, and they don't look kindly on the fact that I actually reached out to you after your wife's murder." He turned to Dash. "The Guys in White aren't exactly fond of the Fentons, especially after failed attempts to acquire some Fenton technology."

"And you're not going to get your hands on any of it," Danny said firmly. "Ever."

"Right. Well, anyway, the higher ups didn't exactly listen when I told them that the man was a threat." Darren shook his head with a sigh. "He manages to murder someone, and they don't think he needs to be treated like a dangerous person. I kept close watch over him while I was working at headquarters in Amity Park. But, as you already know, I was sent to investigate in New Orleans. I can't ignore orders. I only recently learned that he escaped and got myself immediately transferred to protection detail to make sure he doesn't go after you again."

"So let me get this straight," Dash said, leaning on the table with a furious look in his blue eyes, "some dick kills his wife," he pointed at Danny, "and your bosses are idiots and allow him to escape?"

Darren glared right back at the doctor. "I'm not exactly proud of that fact. Actually, I'm rather pissed off about it. But the only thing I can do to make things right is keep Danny safe and try to catch the bastard again before he can do anything more to hurt Danny."

"So you still have no idea where he is?" Danny's mouth thinned as rage burned through him. He could rest, somewhat, easier, knowing that the person who killed Sam was locked up tight. Finding out that the man was out and on the loose made Danny anxious with nervous and fearful energy. He had beaten the man before, and he believed he could do it again, but he also knew the man could be rather dangerous, even if he was an ordinary human.

"We've been trying to locate him. But it's not like he left us any clues."

"Did you search his cell?"

"Of course." Darren pulled out some photographs and slid them across the table toward Danny. "But as you can see, there isn't much there that gives us any ideas about what he was up to or where he would head after breaking out."

Danny and Dash reviewed each of the photographs with a keen eye, looking for anything that might give them some sort of clue as to where the man would head right after escape from the Guys in White headquarters. "Did they really search it?" Danny gave the agent a dull look. "Everything here looks far too neat and tidy. It looks more like they just snapped photographs and didn't care to really look for evidence.

Darren frowned with a sour expression. "I was told they did a thorough search. I wasn't there to conduct it myself because I immediately flew out here to start the protection detail."

"So in other words, your dick head co-workers lied about searching the cell." Dash glowered at the man, clearly not trusting anyone that worked for the Guys in White.

"Which also means that you have nothing to tell me about where he could be." Danny ground his teeth in frustration. From what he gathered, the man escaped at least a couple of weeks ago. What was the man doing all that time? It wouldn't be that hard to figure out his location since Danny didn't bother to keep it a secret when he moved. Even if the man had to hitchhike his way to California, it shouldn't take him that long to reach where Danny lived. There were trains that he could stow away on if he couldn't get anyone to give him a ride. With a foul taste in his mouth, Danny realized that the man could also threaten people to take him where he needed to go or simply threaten them into give him their car. But that would leave a trail, a record of people reported missing or reporting that their car was stolen.

"I'm afraid not." Darren frowned miserably. "But he has a fixation on you, so he'll likely turn up here sooner or later."

"Why does he have a fixation on you?" The worry was back in Dash's eyes.

"He seems to have this strange idea that Danny is Phantom." Darren rolled his eyes, snorting at the very suggestion. "I know it's crazy, but he rants on it all the time. And we clearly mistook it as harmless back then." He frowned, his eyes filling with sorrow as he stared at Danny. "I can't express how sorry I am that you had to go through that. We should have taken him seriously from the start. My bosses should have taken him more seriously after your wife's murder."

Danny nodded, swallowing the lump that made his throat feel like it was closing up. "Well, if you have nothing useful to tell me," he got up from the table, "then I guess we really have nothing more to discuss. Come on, Dash." He left the backroom, walking stiffly toward the exit of the cafe with Dash following after him.

"Are you okay?" Dash questioned once they were in the car. He watched Danny closely, clearly worried about how the man was holding up after that confrontation.

"Yeah," Danny mumbled, staring out the front window. "Just really frustrated that the bastard is out."

"So this guy," Dash's brow pinched, "knows that you're Phantom, has been shouting that fact all over the Guys in White headquarters, and they never believe him?"

"It's," Danny turned a small smirk on the doctor, "sort of an after effect of something that happened toward the end of freshmen year. You see, Freakshow managed to escape the Guys in White once before, and he had this Reality Gauntlet that let him alter reality. Well, stuff happened, and I kicked his butt. I used the Reality Gauntlet to wipe people's memories so that they wouldn't remember finding out about me and dumped Freakshow off with the Guys in White. I then used the Reality Gauntlet again to keep the Guys in White from pestering my family and friends about Phantom, putting it in their minds that there's zero connection between me and Phantom. Since then, the Guys in White have never believed there to be any relationship between me and Phantom. Even with someone shouting out the obvious at them, their brains refuse to believe it. Of course, I then destroyed the Reality Gauntlet to keep it from being used by anyone, including myself."

"Wow," Dash breathed as he stared at Danny. "You've had some crazy adventures." He leaned back in the passenger's seat, frowning as he mulled over everything. "So he escapes again to seek vengeance on you for getting him locked up again, and pretty much making him sound like a crazy lunatic, and he kills Manson to hurt you?"

Danny nodded, teeth aching from grinding them so hard. "Of course, he was probably hoping to kill me." He sighed as he leaned his head back against the seat. "I went over the reports of their investigation into Sam's death. The bullets in his gun were laced with a poison that would have been, perhaps, near fatal to me since I have ghost DNA, even if he didn't manage to land a fatal injury when he shot me."

Dash's face scrunched up in deep concentration. "But if he went through all that trouble to make sure he had something that could potential kill you," he glanced worriedly at Danny, "why would he waste that effort taking out Manson?"

"What are you trying to say?" Danny shifted uncomfortably, not liking that question in the slightest bit. "The only person that was present at the time other than Sam was-" His face suddenly drained of all color as his eyes grew impossibly wide. "Lex!"

The statement shook Dash. It was clear in the disgust and horror on his face. "I wasn't thinking that at all," he mumbled numbly. "This dick head wouldn't really go after a kid, would he?"

Danny felt scared, straight down to his very core. Did Freakshow really aim to take out his son that day? Was Sam's death actually a sacrifice to protect their son? His rage at Freakshow for having taken Sam away from him blinded him to that possibility. Danny shoved his key into the ignition and quickly started the car. "We have to get back there." He didn't want to leave his son alone for even a second longer with Freakshow on the loose.


	47. Chapter 47

Paulina rolled her eyes as the boys whined when she took the game system away from them. "You've played for long enough," she told them with a stern look as she placed the game system on a shelf that was much too high for the boys to reach it. She frowned as her emerald eyes landed on Lex, knowing if he used his powers, he could simply fly up to reach the shelf. "It's time we do something else for a while. Maybe in an hour or so, you can play it again for a while. Now," she placed her hands on her thighs as she bent down, "what do you boys want to play?"

The two boys stared at each other, seeming to have a silent conversation through looks as they thought about what to play. "Oh! Oh!" Xander shot his hand into the air with eagerness in his bright blue eyes. "Can we soccer?"

"Oh?" Paulina blinked in surprise that Dash's son would be interested in soccer after his father was such a big football player. "Since when did you start liking soccer?"

"Well," Xander ducked his head shyly as he toyed with the hem of his shirt. "Well, Lex likes soccer. And I want to play with Lex. And it could be fun. I haven't really got to play any, but Daddy bought a soccer ball for me to practice."

"If you both want to kick the soccer ball around, that should be fine." Paulina led the way through the house to the back door. "Where did your dad put the soccer ball?" She wasn't much into playing sports herself, but she could sit on the sidelines and watch them, making sure they didn't get into trouble, like kicking the ball out of the yard.

"Daddy left it outside," Xander answered, and once the door was open, he immediately hurried over to the bin where the soccer ball was kept while not in use.

Paulina took a seat on the steps of the little porch and watched as the two boys ran into the yard. They stood several feet away from each other before Xander dropped the ball in front of him. Then he kicked the ball to the blond boy across from him. It didn't quite reach Lex, but he ran forward to return the ball. Paulina smiled, leaning back on her arms as she watched them. It was nice seeing the boys playing together like this, and Lex didn't get frustrated when Xander's kicks weren't strong enough to send the ball all the way to him.

Lex kicked the ball a little too hard, and it rolled past the raven haired boy and toward the fence. Xander chased after it and picked up the ball. Before he could turn back to them, he frowned as he stared at something along the side of the house. Not quite liking that, Paulina stood as she frowned with a hint of worry building up in her. Xander's brow was pinched, and his lower lip pushed out in a pout.

"You look funny, Mister," Xander said.

Maybe she was just over reacting. Xander could always just be talking to one of his neighbors, but Paulina had this sinking suspicion that it wasn't anyone that the boy knew. For one, Xander knew his neighbor's names and would call them Mr. Adams or Mrs. Parker, not simply referring to them as Mister. Paulina hurried over to where the boy stood and glanced toward the side of the house. She gulped at the sight of the man standing just beyond the little fence closing off the yard. She thought maybe, just vaguely, she recalled once seeing that ashen skin and long nose, but it was such a far off distant memory that it could simply have been a terrifying dream she once had.

The trench coat he wore reached down to nearly his ankles with the bottom hem tattered. His black boots looked quite worn and covered in mud. His pants and vest were patched up in places and hung on him like he had lost some weight since buying them. His face had that sort of waned appearance of someone that hadn't been eating well, and there were dark bags under his eyes that suggested he didn't get much sleep recently, or for a really long time now.

"I think it's time we head back inside," Paulina said as she grabbed Xander and lifted him into his arms. The boy dropped the soccer ball to wrap his arms around her neck. She didn't know who exactly this man was, but she did not like the way he suddenly appeared at the house or that slightly crazed gleam in his unnatural looking eyes. He felt dangerous to her simply by glancing at him. Whatever he wanted, she wasn't going to let him anywhere near the boys. "Lex, get inside."

The blond boy stared at her worriedly but nodded as he followed her instructions and headed toward the back door. Paulina was relieved he didn't argue with her. When the man's gaze turned in Lex's direction like he could see the boy through the corner of the house blocking his view of most of the yard, Paulina felt like her heart actually stopped with fear as a smirk spread over that pale skinned face.

_Shit!_ The word ran through Paulina's brain like a mantra. Whatever the man wanted, it clearly had to do with Lex, and by addressing the boy, Paulina just confirmed Lex's presence. Holding Xander tightly in her arms, she ran for the back door. The chain fence rattled, and she guessed that the man jumped over it to chase after them. She reached the back door and darted into the house, spinning on the balls of her feet to slam it shut behind her. The thick, heavy boot planted itself between door and frame, stopping her from closing it all the way.

"Not so fast," the man said in a nasally voice. "I have a bit of business with the boy."

"Not on your life." Paulina lowered Xander to the floor so that she could better push against the door to keep the man from entering the house.

The man sneered, fury flashing in his eyes. "I will have my vengeance!" The door quite literally exploded, knocking Paulina to the floor with the force of it. Xander screamed as he ran out of the kitchen and hopefully would go hide somewhere safe. "You," the man said in a nearly controlled voice as he stood over the woman, glaring coldly down at her, "would do wise to stay out of my way if you value your life." He stepped over the woman as he moved farther into the house.

Paulina stared blankly at the ceiling for several, what felt almost endlessly long, moments with her chest aching and burning before she suddenly remembered how to breathe. She gasped in sharply then clamped her eyes shut tightly at the blindly pain in her ribs. How the man managed to make the door explode like that was a complete mystery to her, but it left her feeling like she just got slammed into by a three hundred pound linebacker using her as a tackling dummy.

Despite the agony, one thought pierced through the fog of pain in her brain. The boys were in danger, more specifically Lex, and Paulina wasn't about to let anything happen to him. She ground her teeth, tears springing to her eyes as she held back a shriek when she forced her body to move and pick itself up off the floor. She would never forgive herself if that bastard touched one hair on Lex's head.

"Shit! Paulina!"

She turned her head, leaning against a counter to keep herself afoot. "Steven?" Paulina questioned numbly as she stared at the man, worry filling his blue eyes as he stared at her. "What are you doing here?"

"More importantly, what happened to you?" Steven crossed over to her and his hands hovered over her body like he feared if he touched her to check for injuries, he might break her.

"Where are you, you little half ghost brat?" the man called out, and if she wasn't already filled with fear of the situation, Paulina might have cringed at him shouting out Danny's family secret like that, and right in front of a Guys in White agent. "It's no use hiding. I'm going to find you sooner or later. And trust me, you won't like later."

"We should have locked that bastard up in a much tighter cell," Steven growled, turning his head toward the kitchen doorway.

"What?" Paulina asked numbly, and she wasn't sure if it was simple confusion or the blooming throb in her head that left her unable to follow the conversation. "You had this guy locked up? He doesn't seem much like a ghost."

Steven glanced at her as he frowned. "He's completely human. But we had him locked up in our custody before for connections to ghosts, specifically in that he used to have mind control over them. He," deep regret showed in his eyes as he lowered his gaze, "was the one that killed Danny's wife. And that's why we came here. Because he escaped, and we feared he would come after Danny and his son again. The man has a sick obsession with Danny."

"Give me one of your weapons," Paulina demanded as she held out a hand.

"Excuse me. What?" Steven blinked in a look of utter shock.

"I know they're meant for ghosts, but I bet they'll still hurt like hell if I shoot this guy with one of them. Now give me a weapon." Paulina shook her hand impatiently, like she couldn't understand why there was no weapon already in her grasp.

"Paulina, you can't." Steven shook his head. "You're already injured. I can't ask you to fight this battle."

"Doesn't matter. Dash and Danny trusted me to watch their sons and keep them safe. I'm going to protect them." Determination shined in her emerald eyes. "Now. Give. Me. A. Weapon." If he didn't comply, she was prepared to take one by force in order to better protect the boys.

Steven still seemed hesitant about giving her a weapon and allowing her to fight, but he looked like realized that arguing with her would only waste time. And time, at the moment, wasn't something they had in spades to spare. From the crash in the front room, the man was already turning the house upside down in order to find Lex. With a defeated sigh, Steven reached behind his back to retrieve a small ecto pistol.

"Now, to use it-"

"This won't be the first time I've used a weapon like this." Paulina grabbed the weapon from him, immediately releasing the safety on it. "I've fought ghosts before." An actual gun like weapon might not be what she was used to, but she knew the general idea of how it worked after listening to Danny's explanation that one time.

She put on a brave face, forcing back any hint of the pain she experienced when she took her first steps to the kitchen door. Steven would probably continue to insist that she not fight if he realized just how badly she was hurting, but Paulina refused to sit on the sidelines when the boys' lives were in danger. Pushing back the pain, she marched into the front room, but when she reached it, she didn't find anyone in the mess that now filled the room.

A scream came from upstairs, and Paulina hurried to the second floor, running up the stairs two steps at a time. Steven followed a pace behind her with an ecto gun of his own in his hand and ready to fire at his target. They reached the doorway to Xander's bedroom, and raged filled Paulina when she saw the terror on the raven haired boy's face as tears streamed down his cheeks. Xander was huddled in a corner, whimpering in fear of the man standing over him. Lex was nowhere to be seen.

"Get away from him!" Paulina shouted, and without any hesitation, she fired the ecto pistol at the man's back. She wasn't the greatest shot in the world, and she knew she could never brag about having good aim. Her shot, at least, managed to hit the man, though it was on the left shoulder instead of square in his back.

The man turned around slowly, holding up a fisted left hand as he glowered darkly at her. "I said to stay out of my way."

When he held out his left hand and a red glow appeared around it, Paulina could only stare numbly. Somewhere in her mind, she thought she had an idea of what was to come, recognizing that type of glow from countless times back in high school. But she couldn't seem to make herself move when faced directly with the soon to be coming straight at her attack, and she was fairly certain the man would have much better aim than she did. Steven's arms suddenly wrapped around her and spun her around, tearing her frozen stare from the man. He released a shout in her ear when the attack slammed into his back, his arms tightening briefly about her. It was a dim realization whispering in her mind that Steven just shielded her from taking another painful blow, but Paulina had little time to dwell on it when she heard the man speak.

"The little brat got away!" the man growled furiously, followed by the crash of shattering glass.

Paulina twisted her head around, briefly taking note of the broken window with some of side of the house blasted away also. But her attention focused on the fact that Xander was indeed gone from the room. It baffled her for a moment, wondering how the boy slipped past them until she remembered an important fact: Lex was half ghost. The man didn't follow Xander into the bedroom. He followed Lex, who likely was trying to protect his friend by using his ghost powers. When they arrived at the bedroom, Lex must have used his invisibility to hide himself from the man. Then he used intangibility to help him and Xander escape from the room while the man was distracted with the two adults.

"Shit, that hurts!" Steven groaned as he pulled away from Paulina.

She stared at him, terror growing in her chest. They were both hurting now while their opponent seemed perfectly unharmed. If they were going to protect the boys, they needed to stop taking hits and start dealing them out. Paulina met with the man's furious glare as he stepped toward the adults blocking his way from exiting the bedroom.

"You're not getting your hands on him," Paulina stated, trying to sound calm and in control as she pointed her ecto pistol at the man. Beside her, Steven took aim with his ecto gun.

A smirk slipped onto the man's face. "I don't need to get my hands on him." His expression turned cruel as he whipped something out with his right hand. "I just need to get him in my sights."

Paulina couldn't react fast enough when she saw the six chambered pistol in the man's hand. His finger squeezed the trigger, and a loud bang echoed in the room as the bullet tore from the barrel and screamed through the air. Steven jerked backward with a strangled shout as the bullet pierced through him. His back slammed into the wall, and he slid down to the floor, smearing blood along the white paint of the wall. Paulina screamed out, dropping down beside him. Tears welled up in her eyes as her shaky hands pressed against his wound, trying desperately to stop the bleeding.

"Oh god," Paulina rambled in a trembling voice. "Steven, please! Please don't die!"


	48. Chapter 48

"This is going too slowly," Danny growled, gripping the steering wheel tightly as he tried to find some way through the traffic. He could always take after his parents in driving and just plow through things like there weren't even there, but his car wasn't exactly on the same level as the Fenton Assault Vehicle. In fact, he was fairly certain if he tried crashing through things to get past the traffic blocking his way that he would only end up with a useless car wrapped around a tree or lamppost, which didn't sound like it would help his progress any. Added to that was the fact that Dash was in the car with him, and while Danny could probably walk away from a crash thanks to his ghost powers, Dash probably wouldn't be so lucky.

"So maybe this is a crazy suggestion," Dash said slowly, glancing Danny's way like he was trying to gauge the half ghost's reaction before continuing, "but you do have ghost powers. I know keeping that secret is highly important, but I think protecting your son trumps that." He reached out suddenly, grabbing hold of the man's wrist like he feared Danny would suddenly fly off if he didn't stop him. "Your son is at _my_ house with _my_ son _and_ one of my best friends, which means I have people in danger as well. So don't even think about running off on your own to fight this alone. You're taking me with you, and that's final."

Danny gazed numbly at the doctor. He was coming to understand that the man did care about him, but Dash had more than just one or two people that he was concerned about in this situation. "I promise I'm not going to let the bastard hurt any of them." Fierce determination flashed in his blue eyes. He did care about Xander and would never wish any harm to befall the boy. Paulina certainly didn't deserve to suffer from Freakshow's actions either.

He turned the car down a side street that was lined with tall buildings. Later on, Danny might regret this decision, but Dash had a point. Lex's life was far more important at that moment than protecting his secret. "I hope you're ready for this," he said, throwing a glance Dash's way. Then he shifted forms, changing the car and them invisible then intangible. He hadn't needed to do something like this since high school, but it wasn't as much a strain for him as it was back when he first got his powers. He veered the car in the direction of Dash's house and hit the gas, speeding them through buildings, cars, and other obstacles.

"This is actually," Dash laughed almost breathlessly, "pretty awesome."

Danny smiled a little to himself, taking some pride in the fact that he could still awe the other man with his ghost powers. "Definitely beats sitting in traffic, huh?"

"Man, if I had this power, I'd never have to worry about being late for anything because of traffic jams."

"I don't generally abuse my powers like that, but that would certainly make life a lot less frustrating." Danny laughed, wondering why he never thought about that until now.

"So that Darren guy," Dash said in a contemplative tone, "you seem to know him pretty well. And that whole badge flashing thing." He raised an eyebrow at Danny. "Care to explain that whole thing."

Danny shrugged, one shoulder rolling. "After Freakshow murdered Sam, I spoke a bunch of times with Darren, who was on the team that investigated into the murder. Of course, many of the agents didn't see much reason to do anything all that thorough since it was pretty obvious who the killer was since Freakshow didn't get away after shooting Sam. Darren was actually pretty cool. He, and his band of three subordinates, which includes that Steven guy Paulina's been seeing, wanted to ensure that Freakshow could never get out and do something like that again. Unfortunately, being on the lower end of the ladder, Darren doesn't have much power or influence. He could tell his bosses a thousand reasons with substantial evidence to back him up for everything, and they would still turn a blind eye to him." Danny sighed tiredly. "I actually like the guy. He'd be a good friend if he didn't work for the Guys in White. Darren isn't one of those agents that shoots firsts and asks questions never when it comes to ghosts. That's part of why he kept in touch with me and gave me the badge so I can get in and out of Guys in White facilities whenever I need to. He was interested in knowing what sort of things I knew about ghosts since my parents are ghost hunters. Of course, he's still wary of ghosts he first meets and never goes into an encounter without packing a few weapons, but he gives a ghost the chance to prove it's good or not before attacking. Which can't be said for many Guys in White agents."

"I guess it's good that you have some relations with them," Dash mumbled dryly. "But how do they just let this guy escape? And for a second time?"

"Well, third if you count the time he escaped while I was in high school and he had the Reality Gauntlet," Danny corrected, but he frowned at the questions. "I really don't know how he could escape. I know the Guys in White aren't exactly the brightest in some areas, and they certainly ignored the threat that Freakshow posed, but even they should be able to keep a human prisoner locked up." He heaved a tired sigh. "But Freakshow has shown that he can be rather resourceful and sneaky."

"I keep feeling there's more to this," Dash said, drawing Danny's attention briefly away from the what lay ahead of them. Being intangible had the advantage of not needing to worry about crashing into anything. "He went after your son. Maybe he was intending to kill Manson as well, but it still remains that he seemed intent on hurting Lex before dealing with you. That sounds like a more personal vendetta than just being angry at you for locking him up and making him sound like a complete lunatic to the Guys in White. I'm not trying to diminish anything about what happened. I'm just trying to figure out what this guy's deal is. Maybe he doesn't even deserve to explain his actions. He's definitely crossed a line of no return when he killed Manson and tried to hurt Lex. But maybe it would helpful to have some understanding behind why exactly he's doing all of this to you."

Danny shook his head when Dash fell silent. "No, I get it. I definitely want some answers. Why this had to happen has circled around in my head ever since that day, and the Guys in White wouldn't give me those answers. All I've had as an explanation these last three years is that he hates me for locking him up and the whole Reality Gauntlet thing. If I can get answers out of Freakshow, I definitely want that. But I don't think he'll exactly be willing to give me those answers."

The wheels of the car squealed as Danny slammed on the brakes, turning the steering wheel hard. Beside him, Dash grabbed onto the dashboard, bracing himself in a panic as the car spun then came to halt several inches from the curb. After a brief moment, Danny dropped the invisibility and intangibility.

"You're not driving next time," Dash said shakily.

"You've seen the way my parents drive. I'm surprised you didn't expect me to inherit some of their insane driving," Danny joked, but now that they were sitting outside Dash's house, tension knotted in his chest.

"I guess I should be happy that you managed a perfect parking job." Dash gave him a dry look.

From the outside, the front of the house looked normal with no sense of trouble. Danny almost wanted to breathe a sigh of relief, thinking maybe his fears were for nothing. Maybe Freakshow hadn't even reached California yet, though he would have had plenty of time since his escape. Danny could hope that maybe Freakshow had some alternate agenda this time, some other enemy that he wanted to punish, but he knew, with miserable sinking sensation, that Freakshow would still be obsessed with coming after him.

"I need to-" Danny cut off, blue eyes growing wide when he heard the gunshot. Immediately, images of Sam lying dead on the ground with her blood spilling out onto the sidewalk flashed through his mind. The anguish of it gripped at his heart even tighter when he imagined his son in her place. If Freakshow managed to succeed in his sick, possessed mission of killing his family, Danny - His mind blanked as he tried to think of what he would do then, but he could only see himself breaking down at the loss of his son. How could he even come back from something like that? He still had his parents, his sister, and his friends, and he knew they would always be there to support him. But the thought of losing Lex after having already lost Sam plagued his mind, crushing his heart, and he could almost feel himself starting to breakdown simply from that single gunshot.

"Shit!" Dash threw open the door of the car and didn't even bother to close it as he raced toward the front door of his house.

Danny didn't hesitate a second longer. The images in his head terrified him, but he couldn't breakdown, not here, not yet. He didn't know who got shot, or if anyone even did get shot. The gun could have gone off but completely missed its target. There were so many possibilities for how the events could have gone, and he wouldn't know the truth until he got in the house and saw the damage. He shot out of the car, soaring toward the house and catching Dash around the waist as he phased them through the door.

"Dad!"

"Daddy!"

Danny halted immediately at the boys' voices. He set Dash on his feet and landed beside the man as the two boys raced up to them and grabbed hold of their fathers' legs. Xander had a scrape on his forehead just below his hairline. It was bloody, but it didn't look too bad, merely a surface scrape. Both boys had tears streaming down the faces, clinging tightly to their fathers.

"Hey, hey, you're okay," Danny said soothingly as he crouched down to better look over his son. Lex didn't show any signs of being seriously hurt. "What happened?"

"We were playing soccer in the backyard," Lex explained as he scrubbed at his face, trying to remove the evidence of his tears. "And he showed up. And - And Paulina tried to stop him from coming into the house. And we hid upstairs, but he came." He hiccupped as more tears spilled from his eyes, obviously terrified after the whole experience, especially meeting his mother's murderer again. "And Paulina came in to stop him. I managed to turn me and Xan intangible to escape when he wasn't looking. And there was a loud bang upstairs."

"Paulina!"

Danny glanced up at Dash's whisper and saw the coloring draining from the man's face. He felt cold inside for a different reason. As much as he appreciated Paulina protecting Lex, Danny certainly didn't want her losing her life. "I know you want to help, Dash." He stood up with a quiet fury in his eyes. "But if she's hurt, you're needed with her more." He charged up the stairs, not surprised that Dash followed since Lex's story implied that Paulina was probably upstairs when the gun went off.

At the top of the stairs, Danny froze as he met gazes with Freakshow down the hall. He grabbed hold of Dash, who was right behind him, and turned them both intangible seconds before Freakshow fired the gun in his hand. From downstairs, Lex and Xander screamed at the loud noise of the gun firing.

"Get to Paulina. I'll get this jerk out of here," Danny told Dash as he fired an energy ball at the man closing in on them. Freakshow dodged it, ducking into one of the bedrooms. "Uh, and I'm sorry about any damage to your house." He winced before flying off after his target. He felt bad that Dash's house was probably going to take some damage during the fight, but he couldn't really do anything to stop that from happening. He landed inside of Dash's bedroom to where his quarry disappeared. "Okay, Freakshow," Danny growled, glaring at the former ringmaster as his hands glowed green. "You wanted my attention. You got it. Now tell me why you're doing all of this."

"Now, now, my grim reaper," Freakshow said, drawing himself up to stand at fully height, which didn't seem all that impressive at his age. Danny had surpassed him in height through the years. "You know I can't simply show my cards just like that. We need to have our game and play our parts." A cruel smirk spread onto his waned face. His attire didn't look much different from how Danny remembered it back in high school. It looked more raggedy now, tattered and with patchwork. He didn't honestly look like a big threat in appearance, and Danny distantly wondered how the man could have outsmarted the Guy in White to escape. Twice now.

"I'm not playing games!" Danny shouted, ducking when he saw the gun aimed at him again. If those bullets were laced with the same stuff that Freakshow used nearly four years ago, then they could potentially be deadly to him. Danny wasn't tempted to test out just how deadly they could be.

He charged forward as Freakshow's finger began to squeeze around the trigger. Before the ringmaster could finish the action, Danny grabbed hold of the arm, thrusting it upward into the air as the shot rang out. The bullet fired into the ceiling, raining a thin column plaster dust upon them. They struggled, Freakshow trying to free his arm from the half ghost's hold. Danny twisted his arm, squeezing the hand until it finally released its hold on the gun. It clunked upon the floor as Freakshow growled in his frustration. His left arm shot out suddenly, surprising Danny as it clutched the half ghost's throat in a tight grip.

"You should have kept your distance," Freakshow whispered with an eerily calm voice as his eyes danced with madness.

Panic raced through him when Danny found he couldn't phase himself through the grip. He clawed at the cold metal around the hand, trying to pry it away from him as it squeezed around his throat. The familiar tingle of the light rings that appeared when he changed only increased his panic. He struggled to fight against it and keep himself in his ghost form, but it was quickly becoming harder to maintain that form. Reaching out, he pressed a hand to Freakshow's chest as he concentrated on forming an energy ball. The green wisps faded as soon as they appeared around his hand.

"What - How are-" Danny choked out as he finally lost the battled and reverted back to his regular human form.

"Thanks so much." The grin remained stretched widely over Freakshow's face, and some part of Danny's mind was strongly reminded of that one villain from a comic book. In the next moment, Freakshow threw him across the room. Danny slammed his back into the wall with a grunt. His legs felt weak under him, and he stumbled as he tried to stay upright. Then a burning pain seared over his chest, and he hit the wall again, which cracked under the pressure, sending Danny into the hall where he lay among a pile of rubble. Through the hole, Danny stared up at Freakshow standing over him with his left arm raised with a green glow around his fisted hand.


	49. Chapter 49

"That's seriously annoying," Kwan said dryly as he glared dully across the table where he was working. When he made the suggestion that Dan help him with building the ghost shield to keep the grade school protected from potential ghost attacks, he thought having Dan around would be a good thing. He failed to take into account the possibility that Dan would horribly frustrating with his vague responses. "Could you at least give me a better clue about what I'm doing wrong beyond cringing," he twisted his face up in a mock expression of mimicking the ghost, "every time I'm wrong?"

"I don't look like that," Dan argued grouchily, obviously not caring for Kwan's impression of the way he cringed. "And wouldn't you feel much more accomplished by figuring this out with minimal help? You'll never truly learn if I give you all the answers."

Kwan's stare remained flat and unimpressed, though he could already imagine a swell of pride at having completed the invention by, mostly, his own efforts. "You know," he said as he twisted a screw tightly into place, "I'm actually beginning to think you don't really know anything about building this. You just want me to _think_ you do to impress me."

"Well, can you blame me for wanting to seem impressive?" Dan smirked, and Kwan wanted to kick him under the table for it despite the flutter he felt inside at the sight of that grin. "Obviously the other you wouldn't want to tell me anything about the invention. He kept clammed up tight about it, which was truly frustrating. But I studied it as best I could. I had to, really, so that I could find a weak point and figure out how to get past it. That's how I learned the Ghostly Wail in the first place, and because of that, Danny learned it at a much younger age. It took me ten years to come up with it and perfect it so that I could use it against the ghost shield." He frowned with bitterness in his red eyes, as he decided he didn't need to masquerade in a human disguise while they were alone in Kwan's apartment. "Danny managed to learn it quite quickly after first seeing it."

Kwan nodded as he listened. "So the whole thing with you was so that Danny would a lesson about how something as small as cheating could lead him to turning an evil as well as having him learn the Ghostly Wail which he might not have learned without you coming into existence in the first place?"

Dan shrugged, picking up one of the parts resting on the table to examine it. "Sounds about right."

"So," Kwan set down the screwdriver as he leaned his chin into one hand, "why were you allowed to exist outside of your timeline after he defeated you? Assuming that your timeline even still existed after that." His brow furrowed as he tried to puzzle out that little mystery. "Ow! This time travel, alternate timelines thing is really hurting my head." He pulled back and rubbed at his forehead.

Dan leaned forward with what he probably thought was a smoldering look upon his face. "How do you know it wasn't so that you and I could meet?"

"You are not seriously trying to play the fate card, are you?"

"What? You don't believe in fate?" Dan blinked in surprise, which effectively ruined the whole look he was trying to go for a moment ago.

"I don't know that I buy into the whole love at first sight thing. I mean, sure, on first look," Kwan gestured at Dan, "you're good looking." He rolled his eyes at the ghost's frown as the corner of his mouth twitched, almost trying to pulling into a grin. "Okay. _Very_ good looking. Hot even. The stuff that people fantasize about."

"That was all I wanted to hear."

"You're so full of yourself." But Kwan laughed, amused by the ghost's sense of vanity. "But would I hop into bed with you the second after we met and claim we're soul mates or something? No." He shook his head. "Maybe soul mates exist, but I don't think you'll know it the moment you meet that person. Relationships are about getting to know each other. Sure. We'll probably fight every now and then, but all couples fight. If they say they don't, they're either lying or there's something seriously messed up there because I don't believe that two different people can get along one hundred percent of the time. We all have our different opinions, which means we're never going to agree on everything all the time. But arguments are a part of a relationship. As long as we can find a compromise or figure some way past the fight, we'll grow as a couple. Maybe it was fate that allowed us to meet, but I think it took more than fate for us to become, um," he fumbled, dropping his gaze with a flustered feeling because they hadn't really had that conversation, "a couple."

"So we're a couple now?" Dan grinned, liking the sound of that, Kwan could tell from that self satisfied expression the ghost wore. "Does that mean I can start bragging about my adorable boyfriend?"

"I'd like to point out that I am just as buff as you are and not adorable." Kwan glared across the table, fighting the blush that wanted to creep across his cheeks after being called adorable, again. Adorable wasn't exactly one of the descriptors used when referring to him.

"You're adorable to me." Dan wouldn't stop grinning. "And being adorable doesn't make you any less manly."

Kwan opened his mouth to argue with the ghost when his phone rang. "Ugh, who is that?" he wondered out loud as he climbed to his feet. He was rather enjoying a nice quiet Saturday spent working on the ghost shield invention and getting to know Dan better. Picking up his phone which he left on the kitchen counter, he accepted the call and placed the phone to his ear as he answered, "Hello."

"Thank god you picked!" Valerie said, sounding relieved. "I tried Danny a few times, but he wasn't picking up."

"Should I be worried?" Even without an answer, the worry twisted around inside Kwan. Why would Valerie not be able to get in contact with Danny? From the tone of her voice, Kwan had a bad suspicion that nothing good was happening.

"Who's that?" Dan questioned, joining him in the kitchen.

"Was that Dan?" Valerie almost sounded like she was smirking. "Should I expected a wedding notice from the two of you soon?"

"Oh my god, Valerie!" Kwan pinched at the bridge of his nose, feeling horribly embarrassed by that question. "Let's focus on the actual reason you called." He set his phone to speaker and held it between him and Dan so that they could both hear the woman. "Why were you trying to call Danny?"

"I want details later. You're not getting off that easy, Kwan," Valerie said, and Kwan was really glad that they weren't talking through video chat because if they were, Valerie would see his flushed face and the smirk that Dan wore. "It's a good thing that Dan's there though. That makes things easier. I only have your number, so after Danny didn't answer, you were my only other option. Not that you wouldn't have been my second choice though." She added hurriedly.

"Val, I'm not going to be offended if you wanted to call Dash first."Kwan rolled his eyes with a light smile.

"Just get to the point, Val. You're going to give Kwan a heart attack by stalling," Dan said and chuckled when Kwan shoved him.

"Freakshow is out. I'd rather not explain everything twice, but you should get over there to help Danny as soon as possible. I know he's a capable fighter and all, but Freakshow has a new trick up his sleeve. I'd head over there myself, but," Valerie growled in frustration, "it took me long enough just getting access to my phone again. The Guys in White are really annoying with their stupid rules."

"Well then." Dan started toward him then paused. "Permission to hold you?"

"I'm not afraid of being touched." Kwan rolled his eyes. "Just don't try anything funny." He narrowed his aqua green eyes in a warning glare at the ghost. His stomach twisted with nervous energy when Dan wrapped his arms around Kwan's waist.

"Wow." Valerie laughed. "I never would have imagined that anyone could get a leash on him."

"I'm not on a leash," Dan grumbled as he flew out of the apartment with Kwan in his arms. "I might have been evil in the past and done a lot of crap I can never be forgiven for, but there were lines that not even I would cross."

"So I have a question," Kwan said, keeping his gaze up toward the blue sky with a few clouds passing by, "who exactly is this Freakshow person that you mentioned?"

"He's the one that killed Sam," Dan answered in a dead voice that froze Kwan to his core. "And he still wants to get vengeance on Danny."

"This guy is a ghost?"

"No, he's human," Valerie corrected, her voice harder to hear over wind whipping past the two men as they flew to their destination. "But humans can be just as dangerous as a ghost, especially when they know ways hurting a ghost."

"You're a pretty dangerous ghost hunter yourself," Dan said, smirking. "And any ghost that thinks to tangle with her is in for a world of hurt."

"I can believe that." Kwan remembered when Valerie used to take karate. She was a fierce competitor back then. "Uh, why are we at Dash's house?" He twisted his gaze around to blink at Dan.

"That's where I sensed Danny's energy," Dan explained as he flew them through the side of the house and landed in the front room that was completely turned upside down in a mess like someone was searching for something.

Kwan gazed around as fear gripped him. What took place here? His brain imagined the worse. Then his gaze fell upon Xander crouched at the doorway of the front room like he was hiding. Kwan hurried over to him, and when he bent down by the boy, Xander immediately clung onto him, crying into the man's chest.

"Shh, it's okay, Xan," Kwan said soothingly as he rubbed the boy's back.

"What's going on?" Valerie questioned, worry creeping into her voice.

"Looks like someone did a number on Dash's house." Dan walked past where Kwan was comforting Xander. His red gaze was focused on the stairs. "Freakshow is already here."

"Where's Lex?" Kwan asked, looking around for the other boy. If Danny was here fighting against the man that killed Sam, then his son would here too. Unless Danny thought to drop Lex off with someone else that he knew. But then why would Danny be at Dash's house without Lex?

Xander pulled away from him as he scrubbed at his eyes with one fist. His other hand pointed up the stairs to the second floor. Kwan felt a heavy weight settle inside him as he followed the arm and stared at Lex standing at the top of the stairs. The boy's usually blond hair was now dyed a dark reddish purple color. A translucent shield of green surrounded him, but it cracked as green energy balls ricocheted off it. The shield wouldn't be able to take too much more damage before it shattered around the boy, leaving him defenseless against attacks.

"Leave my _**DAD ALONE**_!" Lex shouted, and an eerie, ghastly noise followed that made Xander whimper as he curled up with his hands clapped over his ears.

"It's okay," Kwan assured him, holding the boy close to him as he winced at the noise. "What is that?"

"The Ghostly Wail," Dan and Valerie announced together. "I think I'm a little jealous," Dan added as he raked a hand through his fiery white hair as a small but proud smirk crossed his face. "He picked that up young."

"Yeah, but we should probably get up there and help," Kwan suggested, worried about how that fight was going if Lex had to step in to protect his father. That thought made his blood run cold with fear that Danny was gravely injured. "Stay right here. Okay, Xander? Just stay here and run if someone you don't know comes down the stairs."

Xander nodded, trying desperately to wipe away the tears that wouldn't stop falling. Kwan felt really sorry for the boy. This was a terrible experience for Xander to go through, and Kwan wished Xander never had to know about this kind of thing. He raced up the stairs with Dan leading the way.

"You little brat!" shouted the strange man, lowering his arms from protecting his face as his left hand glowed green. Before the man could even fire off another energy ball, Dan shot a strong stream of green energy at him, shoving the man down the hall to slam into the wall.

In a flash, Dan was down the hall and standing before the man. He wasted no time landed a punch to the man's face. Even with the distance between them, Kwan could hear the crack of bone breaking before a hard knock as the man's head pitched back into the wall. He watched in stunned silence as the man dropped to his knees, and he feared Dan hadn't held back and actually killed the man with that single punch. Could anyone even do something like that? He supposed it could be possible. The one punch didn't seem to satisfy the ghost, who grabbed hold of the man's collar and wailed on him with several more punches.

"Dad!" Lex cried out, drawing Kwan's attention down the little blond boy who had thrown himself into his father's arms as tears poured down his face. Kwan's heart ached for the boy. Why did such young children have to experience this? It was cruel and unfair.

"It's okay, Lex," Danny said in a wheeze as he winced in obvious pain, holding his son into his arms. "I'm okay."

"What happened?" Kwan questioned while Dan walked down the hall to join them, dragging the man that Kwan assumed was this Freakshow person with him. Freakshow's face was a bruised, painful mess. His long nose was bent as blood oozed down over his mouth and chin. His mouth hung open, and his breath came out noisily, proving that he wasn't dead after all.

"I don't really know." Danny rubbed at his throat. "He had me one moment, and it was, like, my powers just got sucked away." Terror showed in his blue eyes.

"Is he wearing a gauntlet? On his left arm?" Valerie questioned, and everyone turned to check.

"Yeah," Kwan answered, puzzled by the questions.

"Take it away from him!" Valerie ordered in a no nonsense tone. "He used it to suck away Danny's powers so that he could use them as his own. As long as he has that, he can use Danny's powers. Kwan, you do it."

Kwan blinked but complied, stepping toward the man. "Why me though?" He took hold of the gauntlet and yanked it off the man's arm. It was made of a heavy metal, shiny silver with gleaming blue, green, and violet jewels embedded into it.

"Just to be sure he doesn't try to steal Dan's power to," Valerie explained. "I think-"

"Sorry to interrupt the powwow here," Dash said, and Kwan nearly dropped the phone and gauntlet when he saw the blood on his friend's clothing. "There's not a lot I can do here. Steven needs to get to a hospital now if we're going to save him."

"Dan, you should take them," Danny instructed, climbing to his feet as he rubbed at his head.

"And leave you while you're powerless with this jerk?" Dan glared down at Freakshow, looking highly tempted to kick the beaten man, if not worse.

"I know Steven's an agent of the Guys in White, but he's actually one of the few decent ones. And they'll get the hospital a lot faster with you flying them then if Dash drove. I can't do it while my powers are out, and Lex isn't strong enough for something like that yet. Plus he's still not fully in control of his powers." Danny glanced at Kwan before turning a frown onto Dan. "And Paulina will be hurt if you don't help save Steven."

Dan sighed like it was such a chore to help. "And I know Kwan'll kick my behind if I don't help and Paulina gets hurt."

"You bet I will." Kwan narrowed his eyes at the ghost.

"Okay. Okay!" Dan followed Dash toward the room where Steven was.

"So how do I get my powers out this gauntlet thing?" Danny questioned. "And I'm guessing this is why it took Freakshow so long to come after me."

"Yeah," Valerie answered with a disturbed hint in her voice, "it seems that he spent his time locked up in the Guys in White headquarters researching into the twin gauntlet for the Reality Gauntlet. According to the book, they were both made at the same time by the same person, but while the other one could affect reality, this one was designed for the wearer to steal the powers of ghosts so that they could wield them. I guess Freakshow decided that removing your powers was the best way to weaken you so that he could kill you."

"I'd still like to know the reason why." Danny placed his hands on his hips as he glared down at Freakshow.

"Um," Paulina's quiet voice came from the doorway where she stood. Her eyes were red and puffy, and tear tracks marred her face. Her hands were coated in blood, probably from trying to help Steven. "I thought I should probably head to the hospital, but I don't have a car."

"We'll head there soon," Danny said and dropped his gaze to his son, who had his arms wrapped around his leg. "Maybe you could take Lex downstairs and watch over him and Xander until then."

Paulina nodded, and that odd quiet, worn out look was kind of disturbing to see from such a strong, vibrant woman. She reached for Lex then pulled back, her bloodied hands curling tightly as she held them to her chest. She didn't want to get the blood on the boy, and Kwan could see she was struggling to hold back tears. Lex released his hold on his father and reached out to grab hold of Paulina's pants. They headed down the stairs together in silence.

Danny watched for a while before he turned back to Freakshow. "All right. I know this has to be about more than just getting you arrested and the Reality Gauntlet incident." He pulled out his phone and dialed a number. "You stayed holed up in that prison for thirteen years before deciding to come after me and my family that first time. Something had to have happened to trigger that murderous response from you." He raised the phone to his ear.

"Do you really think I'll tell you anything?" Freakshow demanded as he glared up at Danny with a look that vowed vengeance one day.

"I didn't think you would, but I had to try." Danny frowned, and it was obvious that he wanted to know the reason his wife, the mother of his child, had to lose her life. "Hey, Darren," he said, speaking into the phone. "We've got Freakshow. Come pick him up and make sure he never sees the light of day again. We're at one-eight-four Waterman Avenue." He hung up the phone and crammed it back into his pocket.

"I think I may have figured out the answer to that," Valerie said, and Kwan held the phone out toward Danny so that he could hear better. "The Guys in White had Lydia captive, and apparently she was in the circus that Freakshow used to run. They ran experiments on her, and," she hesitated, "just before he escaped and killed Sam, one of their experiments destabilized Lydia, and her form lost all cohesiveness. As you probably remember with what happened to Elle, only this time, she didn't have your parents' Ecto-Dejector to save her."

"She was my love!" Freakshow shouted in rage, his eyes livid with fury, making him look crazier and more disturbing with the bruises and blood on his face. "She was my world. And thanks to you, she's gone! I vowed I would make you feel the same pain of loss. I would take away your family, your world, so that you would know what I felt. You caused this! Everything is your fault!"

"My fault?" Danny gawked at him for a moment before his expression twisted into rage. " _My_ fault? If you hadn't been controlling ghosts and using them to steal, none of this would have started in the first place. If you hadn't controlled me like another one of your puppets. If you hadn't tried to kill my friends. If you hadn't tried to kill my family. You could have lived happily with Lydia if you hadn't been greedy and obsessed with your ghost envy. You brought all of this on yourself. Don't even try to put the blame on me because _you're_ the one that started this all. I'm sorry Lydia is gone. I really am. But I'm not taking the blame for what happened to her."

They dragged the man down the stairs and found some rope to bind Freakshow's hands with while they waited for Darren to show up and collect the man. The gauntlet turned out to be rather simple to use. All Kwan had to do was take hold of Danny's hand and will the powers back into him. Danny transformed, grinning in relief to have his powers back. Then he took the gauntlet from Kwan and tossed into the air, firing off an energy blast that destroyed the gauntlet and left the front hall littered with little shards of metal. He and Kwan cleaned up at that mess so that no one would get hurt stepping on sharp bits of metal. After Darren arrived to pick up Freakshow, they all piled into Danny's car to drive to the hospital.


	50. Chapter 50

"So Steven's going to be all right?" Danny asked, relaxing back on his couch. They had just put the boys down for bed, which took a longer time than usual while their sons were still upset over everything that happened. He was already picturing being woken up several times during the night to Lex and Xander running into the room crying about nightmares. He was exhausted and drained, but he really couldn't blame the boys for being scared. Having Freakshow appear again trying to kill Lex was going to give _him_ nightmares too. Danny almost just wanted to stay up there with Lex in his arms to reassure himself that his son was there, still alive and well. Right after Freakshow absorbed his powers into the gauntlet, Danny went into major panic mode the moment he noticed Lex standing at the top of the stairs. He was scared for his son, unable to fully protect Lex when he didn't have his powers. It was still a shock to him that Lex managed not only to create a shield but learned the Ghostly Wail, though it was still fairly weak compared to the adults' version.

"Yeah," Dash answered, tearing Danny away from his memories of that afternoon. "The bullet didn't hit anything vital, but he did lose a lot of blood, so he'll be in the hospital for a while."

"Good." Danny breathed out in relief. "I'm glad. I'm sure Paulina is relieved to hear that."

"She's still at the hospital." Dash looked just as worn and exhausted as Danny felt.

"Man, I really owe her. I don't think I can thank her enough for putting her life at risk to protect my son." Danny shook his head. "I could have avoided all of this. I should have taken Lex to someone else. Clockwork probably would have complained about being far too busy to play babysitter. He might watch over Lex through the time portals, but that's not exactly the same as getting to interact with someone. I think he would have liked the chance to babysit Lex. There are any number of ghosts that would have watched over Lex. I could have left him with Elle, Dan, or Vlad. I should have! I never should have put your son and Paulina in danger like that."

"Hey!" Dash grabbed hold of his face, shocking Danny into silence. "You're going to drive yourself crazy like that. What happened, happened. Lex is fine. Xander got a little scrape, but he's fine. Paulina is shook up and has some bruised ribs, but she's fine. Steven might have been shot, but he'll live. Things could have gone a lot worse, yes. Things might not have had to happen like that at all if you made a different choice, yes. But you can't let yourself go to pieces over what could have happened. I don't blame you for what happened. I blame that crazy freak for pushing his misfortunes onto you and making you suffer unnecessarily."

"Sorry about your house," Danny mumbled numbly, blinking at the doctor.

Dash rolled his eyes. "I'm not - Okay. I'm a little angry about the repairs that need to be done. But the whole house could have come down for all I care as long as everyone came out of the fight alive. Well," he shrugged as he sat back, "maybe not that Freakshow guy. I can't say I'd be disappointed if he ended up dead."

"It would have been very tempting to do something terrible to him." Danny ground his teeth as his hands curled into tight fists. Freakshow certainly didn't deserve any favors from him, and Danny couldn't find it in him to give the man another chance or even forgive him. Freakshow already proved he wasn't going to change. Danny was sorry that Lydia met with such an unfortunate end, but Freakshow allowed his grief to make him snap and turn into a vengeful lunatic. He frowned, turning his gaze onto Dash. "But killing him would have only felt like I was doing it out of revenge. I'm not going to let myself be led down that path."

Dash nodded at that response. "That's such a superhero response," he teased with a smirk as he lightly punched the raven haired man in the arm.

"Anyway, Darren plans to do a full investigation into how Freakshow managed to escape and ensure it will never happen again." Danny grunted as he shifted on the couch, placing a hand to his chest. So much happened all at once that the pain didn't catch up to him until just then. He knew energy balls hurt, but he didn't realize how much more painful they would be without his powers. Now that he was sitting down in a moment of calm, the aching in his chest and back hit him like fresh wounds.

Dash frowned in concern when he saw the wincing expression. "If you were hurt, you should have said something." He got up off the couch, dragging Danny up to his feet with him.

"Dash," Danny said, sighing as he followed after the man into the bathroom where he kept a first aid kit under the sink. "It's really not that bad."

"I'll be the judge of that, thank you very much." Dash snapped his fingers then jerked his thumb upward a few times. "Shirt off." He crouched down to retrieve the first aid kit.

"It's nothing," Danny insisted as he complied and yanked off his shirt. The movement only seemed to emphasis the soreness of his muscles. Dropping the shirt onto the floor of the bathroom, he hopped up to sit on the sink counter.

"You call that nothing?" Dash gave him a severe "that is _not_ nothing" glare as he popped open the first aid kit to get out supplies.

Danny dropped his gaze to his chest which had a nasty dark bruise covering a large majority of the area with a few scrapes splattered all around. He was fairly certain that his back probably had some abrasions too. "I've," he glanced away, unable to meet that glower, "had worse."

"That's not a very comforting statement." Dash's mouth drew thin, clearly not happy to hear about the half ghost's injuries. "Am I going to have examine you every day to check for injuries?" He started dressing the injuries, drawing a hiss from Danny, who winced.

"Do you want to examine me every day?" Danny questioned with a smirk cutting across his face.

After lifting his head, Dash blinked, and the words registered in Danny's head. A dark blush spread over his face as he tilted his head back, scratching at one cheek when he realized that his question sounded like some horrible pickup line.

"That's not - I mean, um," Danny mumbled, searching desperately for some way to explain as his insides felt like they were doing somersaults all over the place. He dared to glance at Dash, forcing his gaze to meet with those dark blue eyes that were waiting for him to finish what he wanted to say. Only Danny didn't know what he was trying to say.

Dash finished with bandaging him up, dropping the leftover roll back into the first aid kit. He started to pull away, and Danny followed, grabbing hold of his collar to stop the doctor from drawing back anymore. Slipping forward, Danny nearly slid right off the sink as he leaned his head in to catch Dash's lips with his own. His heart raced, a nervous energy thrumming through his veins as he tugged the man closer. He thought - He expected Dash to push him away or punch him for doing something so stupid that he couldn't even explain. But Dash moved forward, stepping between Danny's legs as his hands rested upon the other man's thighs. Their lips moved against each other, deepening the kiss, and Danny felt that flutter inside him that he hadn't felt in years, not since-

Danny suddenly shoved Dash back, dropping his gaze as he took deep breaths, his heart still beating much too fast. Dash didn't argue or complain, merely standing there and waiting for the half ghost to collect himself again.

"Sorry," Danny mumbled, refusing to look at the blond man. He felt stupid and pathetic at that moment. "I shouldn't have-"

"I was kind of hoping you would."

Danny's head shot up, and he stared at Dash, who was looking away and rubbing the back of his neck as a blush colored his cheeks. "You were?" His brow creased in confusion.

"Yeah, I was kind of afraid I was the only one starting to feel that way." Dash frowned. "And well, I figured it was best that you make the first move. You know, when you were ready."

Danny stared then blinked slowly as the words repeated in his head. "Am I ready?" he mumbled to himself, feeling very uncertain. "I don't know. I wasn't expecting to suddenly start falling in love with someone again. I was in love with Sam." He lifted miserable blue eyes to Dash. "Isn't falling in love with someone else, like, betraying that love?"

"And you think she wants you spend the rest of your life alone, mourning over her?" Dash furrowed his brow as he watched Danny. "I never really knew her, but I bet she wouldn't want you to be miserable. And maybe you were soul mates. But," he scratched a hand through his hair as he frowned in thought, "do we only get one?" He stared questioningly at Danny. "And when that one dies, that's it? No more love for us? That seems sad and depressing. I think we're allowed to love more than one person like that. Just, you know, preferably not at the same time." He grinned with just a touch of teasing to it.

"Yeah," Danny said, though he couldn't quite shake that guilty feeling. "Just, you're going to have to be patient with me. I can't just suddenly shut off feeling guilty because of Sam."

"I know you loved her. You don't just shut that off even after she's gone." Dash shrugged then bent down to pick up Danny's shirt from the floor. "And think of this," he held out the shirt, "I've pretty much been out of the dating game since Xander was born, so the dating, kissing, other stuff," he looked away as his cheeks reddened, "is something I'm kind of, well, not as smooth with as I used to be. So I'm not exactly looking to rush anything. Especially with our sons to think about."

"I think Lex is warming up to you." Danny laughed as he tugged on his shirt. "So that definitely gains you some points."

"Xander pretty much already wants you to move in with us." Dash chuckled. "He even suggested you and Lex move into our house a while back."

"So," Danny said, feeling a little awkward about asking it, "when did you start realizing you liked me?" He couldn't help his curiosity.

"Probably when I started thinking about the idea of losing you." Dash placed the first aid kit back under the sink. "I really hated the idea that that bastard had bullets laced with a potentially fatal poison to you. It actually hurt to think of you dying, and I realized there was no way that was simple friendship. I was definitely feeling something way more toward you than what I have with Kwan and Paulina. And you? You don't get to ask me and not answer that question too."

"Uh, well, now I feel shallow." Danny flushed, ducking his head. "After nearly face planting right into your naked chest, I couldn't get the image of your half naked body from popping up in my head."

"Well, I do have a great body." Dash smirked.

"Oh shut up!" Danny could hardly argue that point though because Dash did have a really nice body. "And we've just gotten along so well since meeting up again. And the fact that we get along so well with each other children really helps. I don't think I could start to get involved with someone if Lex was uncomfortable or didn't like that person. That would just be too hard."

Dash nodded in understanding. "If Xander didn't like you so much, I'd probably be trying to shove away any feelings toward you."

"Dating with a kid isn't easy." Danny could understand why Dash didn't dating around that much after Xander was born. Being a single father was hard enough without trying to look for someone to get involved with. "But, so we're agreed. We're taking things slow. And for now, I think we should be careful about displaying anything in front of the boys. Just, you know, I don't want them getting all excited about the idea, in case things don't work out."

"Well, I hope things work out," Dash grinned, "but I understand what you mean. I wouldn't want them to be hurt like that if we didn't work out."

"And the fact that you already know about me and Lex really helps." Danny smiled as he leaned against the sink. "Anyone else I would have to constantly be on watch to make sure neither Lex nor I slipped up around her or him." He sighed then as something occurred to him. "I'm going to have to figure out what to do now that Lex actually developed the Ghostly Wail. I really wasn't expecting him to learn that so soon. I thought he would get that much later down the line. I guess I could always take him into the Ghost Zone to practice that. I wouldn't have to worry about the house being destroyed or trying to sound proof things so that the noise from it doesn't make the neighbors start calling the cops or something."

"Speaking of which," Dash folded his arms as he leaned against the wall of the bathroom, "I'm surprised the house didn't get surrounded by cops after everything happened."

"The Guys in White are pretty good at covering up things that involve ghosts, or in this case Freakshow." Danny chewed on his lower lip, wondering what else to say. "Um, so, this is probably a little out there since it's not for a while, but do you want to go to Jazz's wedding? Uh, with me?" He reached up and scratched behind an ear as he looked away. "I'm sure Jazz would want you to come, even if it's not with me." He bit his tongue before he said anything more that could come off sounding even more stupid.

Dash tilted his head like he was considering things. Then he leaned in so close that Danny held his breath expecting the man to kiss him. "I'd love to." The answered stunned Danny so that he couldn't react to the quick peck upon his lips. "Now," Dash continued like the kiss didn't happen, "how should we spend the rest of our night?"

Danny groaned as Dash tugged him out of the bathroom. "I'm way too exhausted to even think about doing anything. I just want to kick back and relax."

"Movie? I'll make some popcorn."

"Now you're speaking my language." Danny dropped onto the couch, flopping back as he put his feet up on the table. "Can you make it extra buttery?" Grinning, he fluttered his eyes innocently as he begged.

Dash rolled his eyes. "Just this one time. Am I going to have to keep tabs on your cholesterol too?"

"Take a break from the doctor mode sometimes," Danny called as Dash headed into the kitchen. "The popcorn is in the middle draw next to the fridge. And I try to eat right. Most of the time."

"Yeah, yeah. Sure you do," Dash called back, but there was a teasing hint in his voice. After he made the popcorn, Dash returned to the front room. They spent several moments deciding on a movie, something action packed with a touch of romance. Then they kicked back with the bowl of popcorn between them as they enjoyed the movie. Danny couldn't help the light flush and flutter inside whenever their hands brushed as they both reached for the popcorn or when Dash threw his arm over the back of the couch and his hand brushed against Danny's shoulder. He felt nervous and excited about the idea of a relationship with Dash, but during a moment like this, it felt comfortable and natural.

 

Paulina stirred when she felt a shifting under her. She blinked bleary eyes as she took in her blurry surroundings, what she could see in the near darkness with only the light from the hall spilling in through a crack between the door and frame. When she sat up and glanced toward the head of the bed, she gasped when she saw the man was awake and staring at her.

"Shouldn't you have gone home by now?" Steven questioned in a hoarse voice.

Paulina shook her head, tears springing to her eyes to see him awake. He had slept ever since he came out of the operating room. Even though the doctor said that he was stable and would live, Paulina couldn't help worrying about him. "I begged them to let me stay after visiting hours were over. I just-" She bowed her head, hands curling around the stiff blankets of the hospital bed. "I had to make sure you were all right."

"You could have come back in the morning," Steven pointed out with a small smirk. His hand reached out to cover Paulina's hands, as best as he could which meant he was really only holding onto the pinky and ring finger on Paulina's right hand. "You were hurt too. Sleeping in a chair like that can't be helpful."

Paulina smiled, though she was wincing internally because her ribs didn't appreciate the way she fell asleep. "It's not that bad."

"You're a terrible liar." Steven chuckled lightly. "What happen after I got shot? The boys didn't get hurt, did they?"

"No, Danny, Dash, and Kwan showed up to deal with that man." Paulina wasn't sure if she should mention Dan to the man. Did Steven know about Dan as Danny's cousin? She would rather not have to explain anything about him if Steven didn't already know. "Other Guys in White agents came by to pick him up before we came over here to check on you."

"That's good." Steven closed his eyes as he leaned his head back against the pillow. "After I got shot, I thought - I was terrified that Freakshow was going to hurt you next. And there was nothing I could do about it. And the boys." His eyes snapped open to stare at the ceiling. "They shouldn't have to have gone through something like that. Especially Lex. He already had to witness his mother dying. He didn't need to have the murderer chasing him around trying to kill him too."

Paulina took hold of Steven's hand, squeezing it lightly as she brought the hand up and brushed her lips against the back of it. "I was so scared that you were dead the moment he shot you." The tears that gathered in her eyes couldn't be held back any longer and spilled down her cheeks. "I've never felt this way with anyone else before. You've treated me so nicely. And even though you lied before, it wasn't for some stupid selfish reason. Not like some guys that spew out lies because they want to sleep with me or something. Your job requires secrecy sometimes. I get that, even if I don't like being lied to. I guess what I'm trying to say is that I care a lot about you." She squeezed the hand just a touch harder. "I don't want to lose you."

"My job doesn't come without its risks," Steven said, and Paulina wasn't sure if she was happy that he wasn't sugarcoating it or if she wanted him to lie her just this once to calm her fears. "Some ghosts are friendlies."

"You better be putting Phantom on the friendlies list." Paulina narrowed her eyes. "You can't even begin to count the number of lives he's saved with his actions."

"I won't lie. There are some agents that still treat him as public enemy number one. But Phantom has shown that he fights to protect, not to harm our world." Steven paused seeming to recollect his thoughts after the interruption. "But there are ghosts out there that aren't as friendly. Those ghosts can be quite dangerous. That's the reason I took this job. I wanted to keep people safe from ghosts attacking their towns. I'm glad I was assigned to Darren's team, because we're of the same mind on that point. We investigate the situation before we decide whether to detain a ghost or not."

"You attacked Desiree without giving her the chance to explain." Paulina's mouth thinned as she squeezed the hand hard enough to gain a yelp from the man.

"Sorry!" Steven winced, extracting his hand from her grip to shake it out. "When my scanner showed a ghost in the apartment, I panicked! I thought the ghost might be attempting to harm you. It was the second time that signature came up in your apartment."

"Second," Paulina mumbled before she recalled the wish. Her eyes grew wide as she realized that the act of granting the wish probably briefly registered Desiree's ghostly essence for the Guys in White to track. "So that night you first came to my apartment was because you picked up on Desiree?"

"Yes," Steven answered slowly like he expected her to hurt his hand again.

Paulina laughed breathlessly as she shook her head. The laughing made her ribs ache dully. She wished to meet someone nice like Danny, but Steven arrived at her door for another reason beyond just answering the wish. "Now that things are done with the whole threat to Danny's family, um," Paulina bit her lip in fear and worry, "does that mean you'll be moving? Since you no longer need to watch over Danny and his son?"

"I could probably put in a request for a transfer here," Steven offered. "I know long distance can be a strain on a relationship, and I'd really like to keep seeing you too."

Paulina frowned at the mention of long distance. "I'll have shoots that take place around the world." She gazed down sadly. Maybe a relationship wasn't a real option for her at this time.

"Well, there _are_ ghosts all around the world."

Paulina's brow drew together as she stared at the man. "What are you saying?"

"Maybe I could speak to Darren about allowing me a sort of global investigation on ghosts," Steven suggested. "I could tag along with you wherever your shoots are, and while you're busy with work, I can look into any local ghost stories. It's kind of a win-win situation. We can spend time together, and the long distance thing won't get in the way. But we won't be overcrowding each other because we'll both have our own work to focus on."

"I-" Paulina gawked at him, surprised by the suggestion. "You would do something like that? For me?"

"Of course." Steven smiled. "I care a lot for you, and I want to make this work."

Paulina grabbed hold of his hand and kissed the palm, overjoyed by the idea and the chance to keep her relationship with Steven.


	51. Epilogue

Danny grinned, holding up the camera as he filmed the second grade portion of the end of the year performance. The children were singing through "Old MacDonald Had a Farm" while acting out the animals mentioned in it. One boy, Billy if he recalled correctly, was dressed up as Old MacDonald in a plaid shirt and overalls with a straw hat sitting a little too big on his head. He went around to each group of animals, pretending to feed them during their part of the song. When it got to the pigs, Billy acted like he was dumping a bucket of food in a trough while Lex and Xander sang their line about how the pigs on the farm went oink oink.

"You're never to tell anyone that I sewed the costumes," Dash whispered, leaning in close to Danny. The boys were dressed pink shirts and shorts with ear headbands and little pink pig snouts. When they turned around, they had little curly tails sticking out of the back of their shorts.

"You don't want to brag?" Danny smirked teasingly. "You did such a great job on them."

"And imagine what would happen if the other parents knew. They might want me to sew costumes for their kids next time," Dash pointed out with a meaningful look. As a doctor, he had a fairly full schedule without other parents constantly inquiring about him sewing things for them.

"Our little secret then?" Danny rather liked that, something only he knew about Dash. Except that Kwan and Paulina probably knew about that skill too. He turned his attention back to the stage, still filming the play even though their sons' parts were done. He gave a little gasp when Xander tripped, accidentally falling right on his face. Some of the other children in the audience snickered, and even from their spot near the back, Danny could see the boy's face starting to turn bright red from embarrassment.

"Then all the animals went to sleep," Lex shouted out suddenly as he play fell onto the ground right beside Xander. The other second graders looked confused by the impromptu addition to their skit. Jeremy and Vincent were, strangely the next to follow, and the little redhead Denise was quick to copy them. Soon all the second graders were lying on the stage and making snoring sounds like they had all fallen asleep.

"And that was the second grade with 'Old MacDonald Had a Farm,'" Kwan said with an awkward chuckle as he hopped onto the stage and stood before the microphone set up to one side. "Weren't they great?" He applauded, which encouraged the audience to clap too. The children climbed to their feet and bowed before filing off to the backstage area. "And next up is the third grade."

 

"Man, do you remember this?" Lex asked, tilting his head back to lean against the bed and glance at the raven haired boy sitting at the foot of the bed.

Xander paused in the middle of tying his shoes then leaned over on one arm to look at the photo album in Lex's hands. "Oh yeah!" He grinned. "Our second grade play. That was so embarrassing when I fell down. Why are you looking at that?" He blinked, brow furrowing slightly in confusion.

"Dad wanted me to clean up my room." Lex rolled his blue eyes in annoyance. "And I ended up finding this under the bed. I don't know how it got there." Lex shrugged as he flipped the page to look at more of the pictures in it.

"Oh hey! There's one from the wedding," Xander pointed at the picture of them dressed up in little suits. "You were such a cute little ring bearer."

Lex reached up and shoved Xander away with a hand to the face as the other boy laughed. "And you were adorable as the flower boy."

"That was only because Tucker's cousin's daughter got sick and couldn't do it. I only agreed because Jazz begged me." Xander finished tying off his shoes and stood from the bed. "Come on. Denise'll be here soon."

"Yeah, yeah." Lex climbed to his feet and walked over to his desk to set the photo album on it, right next to the worn Phantom plush that he got from Xander for his eighth birthday. Before he could turn away, arms suddenly latched around him, squeezing him in a tight hug.

"Thanks again," Xander mumbled shyly.

Lex chuckled, patting his friend's hand. "Hey, I couldn't let my best friend feel embarrassed about tripping on stage."

"No," Xander shook his head, "I mean about what happened." His arms tightened just a little. "The guy killed your mother right in front of you and came back to kill you too. You must have been terrified, but you still protected me."

Lex stiffened, muscles tensing at the mention of his mother's killer. Despite the years that went by since that event, he still had nightmares about that man. They came less frequently than before, but he still woke up some nights in a cold sweat with a scream trapped in his throat like a lump cutting off his air supply. Xander never said anything, but Lex wouldn't be surprised if that man gave his friend nightmares still too.

"I wasn't going to let him hurt you." Lex twisted around in the other boy's arms and gave him a tight hug.

"Boys, are you getting ready?" Dash called up from downstairs.

Lex rolled his eyes as he pulled away from his friend. "I guess we better get downstairs." He headed for the door with Xander trailing behind him. When they reached the bottom of the stairs, they headed into the kitchen where Dash was packing up some sandwiches and water bottles into a cooler.

"Is Auntie Lina and Uncle Steven going to come?" Xander asked as he dropped into a seat at the kitchen table.

"She really wanted to come, but she needed to go to Milan for a fashion show," Dash explained, closing the cooler as he gave his pouting son an apologetic look.

"Ugh, thanks a lot," Danny grumbled as he came out of the laboratory with green goo covering the front of his clothes. "I think you did that on purpose."

"You're not coming looking like that, are you, Dad?" Lex frowned, already imagining the embarrassment of his father showing up with ectoplasm all over him. Very few of his friends had any idea about his father's work with ghost research, and Lex wanted to keep it that way. The incident happened when he was twelve and had a group of friends over from school. When his father came into the kitchen covered in green with some weird ghost hunting invention in his hands and ready to blather on about it, it was a little too late to cover it up with lies.

"Of course not," his father said, already heading out of the kitchen. "I'm going to change right now."

"I hardly did it on purpose," Vlad said with a snort as he exited the laboratory. He wasn't wearing the suit that Lex was so accustomed to seeing him wear. Instead, Vlad wore casual slacks with a shirt in the colors of Lex and Xander's high school, which were white and dark green. With him was Desiree, who also dressed to support the boys. "I swear Daniel is still as clumsy as he was when he was a teenager."

"Aunt Desiree came with you?" Lex gave them a strange look, surprised to see the pair of them together, when not at a ghostly group gathering.

"Vlad's been introducing me to sports," Desiree explained. "I can't say I fully understand the draw, but it's rather thrilling cheering for a team."

"How did that happen?" Xander piped up curiously.

"Well," Desiree glanced at Vlad as she brushed back a lock of her long ebony hair, "after the advice he gave me on the importance of being honest with friends, I decided to pay him a visit and thank him. But he looked so worn out with all the work piled up, so I offered to help him." She shrugged her shoulders. "I don't understand much about his work, but I can do filing and stuff. I helped out in whatever way I could to make things easier for him. It gave me something to do with my time."

"Couldn't he have just made a W?" Xander questioned with a tilt of his head.

"He could have, but he knows that wishes tend to come with a price or unforeseen consequence," Desiree explained.

"Hey! How come she can say the W word?"

"Because Desiree can't grant her own Ws so it doesn't matter if she says the word or not," his father answered as he returned in clean clothes. "And I think Vlad likes all the busy work. For some bizarre reason." He rolled his blue eyes as he smirked at Vlad.

"I hardly expect you to understand," Vlad returned with only a slight sneer.

"Dad, Dad!" Lex put on his best puppy dog look as he came to stand before his father. "Can Xan and I take my bike?" He pushed out his lower lip with a pleading look in his eyes.

"We've talked about that, Lex." His father gave him a stern stare as he placed his hands on his hips. "You're only fourteen. Until you get your license at sixteen, you're not allowed to ride the motorcycle. Except in the Ghost Zone."

Lex groaned as he went to pout at the table with Xander, who patted him on the shoulder. When the doorbell rang, his father hurried off to answer it, though they all knew who it would be.

"All right," Valerie said as she came out of the laboratory with Elle right behind her. "Yeah, yeah. I'll let them know." She hung up her phone and crammed it into her pocket as Lex's father returned to the kitchen with Denise, who brought a thick, heavy book with her to read.

"What's going on?" Dash asked.

"Looks like Kwan and Dan are going to be a little late arriving to the game," Valerie explained. "Hey there, Denise. Still working your way through all the classic literature?"

Denise nodded. "I'm halfway through _War and Peace_."

"Does that mean Hunter's going to come?" Xander questioned as he and Lex got up from the table. Now that Denise was there, they could all pile into one of the cars and head over to the soccer field where their game was being held.

"Probably," Elle answered, rolling her eyes as she grinned. "They sure get along well. So unlike Lex."

"That's not my fault!" Lex complained, frowning at his aunt. "Hunter started it by using me for target practice!"

"And you didn't help things by encouraging Hunter." His father steered him toward the front door. "If they decide to bring Hunter along, you're just going to have to suck it up and try to get along. We're going to be in public, and I really don't want to have to explain things to a bunch of parents."

"I wasn't going to do anything," Lex grumbled, folding his arms.

"Hunter's pretty cool though," Xander commented then shrank back under Lex's glare.

"Does play good music too," Denise added, and Lex frowned with a slight feeling of betrayal that his friends weren't on his side when it came to Hunter. "I really like the use of classical music infused into a modern rock feel. Ember really is doing a great job teaching Hunter to play."

"Seems to me that Hunter and Lex might take a bit after you and Skulker," Valerie said as they climbed into the car. "Though it seems Hunter isn't taking after Skulker in that whole 'collector of all things rare and unique.'"

"Good," his father said with a grimace. "I think I'd be a bit disturbed by a seven year old wanting to mount my son's pelt upon the wall."

"Wait. Skulker wanted to do that to you?" Dash frowned severely, not liking the sound of that.

"Years ago," Danny said with a nervous laugh as Dash started up the car. "That was back in high school. We're friends now. Basically."

"Did you enjoy Bram Stoker's _Dracula_?" Vlad questioned Denise as he sat in the back of the minivan with Desiree. Elle decided to be a bit childish and sat in Valerie's lap while the three teenagers were crammed into the middle section of the minivan.

"My mother was afraid it would be a bit too scary for me," Denise confessed as she twisted around to speak with the man. "But I found it quite interesting. I've decided to read _Moby Dick_ next when I finish with _War and Peace_."

"You are quite an ambitious girl." Vlad wore a small, proud grin because it was after a conversation they once had while he was over at the house that got Denise started on reading those old, and what Lex thought to be boring, books. It wasn't that he didn't like books since he and Denise talked about them all the time, but as soon as he heard the word classic attached, it was like hitting a snooze button in his brain.

"So do you think you'll win the game today?" Valerie questioned, bopping the bottom of Lex's seat with a small kick.

"Well, we'd probably have a better shot if Jeremy hadn't injured his leg," Lex said, frowning at that fact. Jeremy tended to be their top scorer each game, and sometimes it was still strange to think so highly of the former bully. But the other boy had come a long way from how he was when they first met in second grade. His attitude got a lot better after his father won the custody battle, and the rest of the parents were happy when Mrs. Duvall stopped coming to the school meetings. Their classmates liked him a lot more now that he wasn't being a jerk to them all the time. "But we're not out of it yet." Lex held up a fist in determination.

"Yeah," Xander agreed in a cheer. "We can win this!"

"That's the spirit!" Valerie grinned at the boys.

Lex smiled as he settled back against the car seat. Six years ago, when he and his father first moved here, he couldn't imagine feeling happy again. He could see his father was still depressed about losing his mother, and he was still pretty miserable about it too. He felt like the world was clouded in darkness, and despite efforts to try to be happy, it would always fall flat. But meeting Xander and Dash was good for both him and his father. They were like the rays of light that managed to pierce through the clouds. Lex could still see that clinging depression in his father's eyes from time to time, still hurting over losing his wife. But that look seemed to always vanish whenever Dash came into sight, and his father would get that big dorky grin on his face. Lex was happy, though, that his father found someone that made him happy. Even though a lot of that first year was filled with craziness, everything in the end worked out for the best.


End file.
